Race Report: Bonelli Park Olympic Distance Triathlon



Bonelli Park Triathlon course: swim in the lake, bike three loops
of the the outer red ring, run one loop of the inner ring.

Local races are nice because there is no extensive travel or lumpy hotel beds.  But unless the race is literally in your backyard, it also means a super-early morning.  Bonelli Park, while local, was still a good half hour drive away. With the season starting off with the Alcatraz Challenge and a good showing in Santa Barbara, this would be my last tune-up race before Ironman Arizona in November. 



The Bonelli Park Olympic Triathlon runs the standard lengths: 1.5km (0.9 miles) swim, 40km (25 miles) bike, and 10km (6.2 miles) run.  Unfortunately, the timing chip the organizers gave me malfunctioned.  It only logged my swim time but failed to log me for the rest of the race.  Usually, the organizers would pull a racer aside to check the timing chip once they notice a malfunction, but I ran by the timing stations without anyone saying anything.  Luckily I had my Garmin logging all of my data, although I may not have switched from one discipline to the next right on the timing mats.  For my purposes, however, the Garmin data would do just fine.



Results via Garmin



To read the Garmin results, each split is a separate portion of the triathlon:

Split 1: swim

Split 2: transition 1

Split 3: bike

Split 4: transition 2

Split 5: run

Closer inspection of the Garmin data shows inaccuracies the end of Split 1/beginning of Split 2 and the run time.  On the race course, after coming out of the water, you come through a gate at the water's edge marking the swim finish.  Actual swim time should be near 36 minutes, with T1 being around 3 minutes - it appears to have taken approximately two minutes to run up from the water's edge to the entrance of the transition area, where the T1 timing actually starts.  This does not affect the total time, just the allocation of time. However, the run time was extended accidentally because I did not turn off the timer on the Garmin until nearly 5 minutes after I had crossed the finish.  This became apparent after looking at the Garmin map, showing exactly where I crossed the line and then hooked a sharp right turn to get out of the way of other finishers (and on to refreshments for myself).

Red dot marks finish. Extended line shows continued (accidental) timing.



So my actual run time should be cut by approximately 5 minutes.  Thus the final results would actually read:

Pretty happy with these results.  The day itself was rather hot - up to 92 degrees, but an otherwise perfect day for a triathlon.  These times are fairly consistent with my Santa Barbara times.

Swim.  Nearly spot-on with the Santa Barbara time, which I was pretty happy with.  I was in the first wave, which included the elite men, so I took it easy entering the water, figuring the ultra-competitive can go ahead and I can avoid some punching and kicking.  Even then, I think adrenaline got the best of me and I probably pushed a bit too much right out of the gate.  Arms/shoulders were a bit tired towards the end, and had a bit of side cramp, which never got too bad and I was able to swim it off.  My left shoulder has been bothering me all week though, which could have added to the tiredness.  The left shoulder I think was tired just from dealing with the road rash, since I've been careful not to touch the rash on anything all week (mostly while sitting position at work - can't use arm rest, and sleeping awkwardly to avoid the road rash area touching anything).  Luckily, my lovely nurse was on hand to help me wrap my arm in gauze and tape for the swim.

T1. Transition times are a little harder to compare than swim times, since the size of transition areas can greatly affect the times.  At Santa Barbara, I hoped to be sub-2 minutes.  A similar time would have been great here.  Even at 3 minutes, the transition time may have been a little slow.  Something to continue working on.

Bike.  Very happy with this time, it averages to just under 19 miles per hour.  The course was fairly hilly, with fast downhills and slow, ever-increasingly-difficult hills to climb.  A faster pace than Santa Barbara, and that course was nothing to sneeze at either, though the wetness of Santa Barbara surely slowed me down a bit.  Familiarity with the course helped as well, having done one loop of the bike course a few weeks ago during a training ride prior to registering for the event.  Always room for improvement, but still my favorite and strongest discipline.

T2. Sub-2 minutes here, very happy.  T2 will always be faster than T1, since there is no stripping of wetsuits, just dropping off the bike and putting on running shoes.  Some of the transition tips I've received over the course of the year has helped with decreasing transition times though, making them not only faster but also stress-free.

Run.  By the time the run started, the sun was blazing hot.  Some of the course was shaded, which felt very nice, but much of it was not.  I don't think anyone passed me during the run, but I passed a number of people.  There was some stiffness coming off of the bike but nothing I was not familiar with.  Easy pace to start, with very short strides to help get the legs loosened up.  As usual, I walked through each of the water stations.  With the heat, I drank only half of the water and dumped the remainder on my head to help cool me off.  Starting Mile 4 I tried to pick up the pace a bit, then again at Mile 5, and sprint for the last 100-200 yards. 

Overall, it was a good day and a very good sign for Ironman Arizona! Training is certainly paying off big dividends!

A final note to congratulate Iron Sherpa/Iron Nurse on completing her first Olympic triathlon!  Hooray!