2024 Mission Bay Race Notes
I finished 5th!
Here's the quick recap of the race.
Going into the race I was hopeful but not expecting a ton. A week prior I was battling covid and on race day I was still recovering. The week of the race I wasn't doing a ton just trying to get my legs under me again.
Overall, I'm extremely pleased with the result. I'll get into a bit more but the time was slower than I expected but also the course was changed unexpectedly. I am disappointed that some improvement on my transition would've had me on the podium.
Swim
The swim was 250 yards longer than advertised. It's fine and is better for me being a stronger-ish swimmer. In essence it added about 3-4 minutes to my overall time. So comparing this year to last year is out the window. Looking at the data, I swam a 1:30 pace which is just fine considering my health.
T1
I completely fumbled T1. I forgot to turn my bike computer on and had trouble getting it started. The plan was to come in, push the on button, take off the wetsuit, and get going. Instead I fussed with it. Then took off my wetsuit and fussed with the computer again. Put on socks (won't do that next time) and my cleats (shouldn't do this but the parking lot tears your feet up), and headed out. I lost a minute, maybe 2 worrying about the computer. So so so dumb. I wasn't thinking and should have just gone without it. I just like the data at the end of the day.
Bike
My average power was weak. 160w and 177w normalized. For such a flat and short course this should be in the 200s for sure. Regardless of the power I was just under my goal of 30 minutes. Another factor for the weak bike split was that I didn't bike the week we were on vacation. Then I got covid and took another week off. It was roughly 20 days without a significant bike workout. So in the end, I did well considering my health.
T2
T2 was fine. I can't think of anything I could've done to be faster.
Run
The run was solid. The goal I had in mind was 9:00 mile pace. Based on the short week of training that felt like a reason pace to hold. Well I ran 8:09 pace and was probably being a bit too cautious. Thinking back I probably could've been under 8:00. But again, I'm happy with it.
Wrap up
This is always a fun race. I love doing the Mission Bay even if the course gets cluttered with newbies. It's good for the sport to have new people trying it out and the local events are the best place for it. I finished 5th, a place higher than last year. I could have been as high as 3rd had I not screwed up T1. That's a pretty good day in my book.