Jess and I drove down on Friday and met Shawn at Zuma Beach where we proceeded to do our registration. Shawn and I did a quick ride around the run course to give Shawn an idea of what to expect on race day with a few additional miles up the coast before returning for a quick afternoon swim with the afternoon swells.

We check our bikes into the transition for the evening and before we leave I realize that I have misplaced my timing chip. I go back to registration and they had it at the table; apparently I dropped it as soon as I received it. We drive up the hill and check into our hotels before a nice al fresco dinner at Nonna's in Westlake Village. Bed time.

Race Day

Wake up and have a little apple sauce for breakfast. Drive down to Zuma beach and park in the lot and get the rest of my stuff over to transition.

I think I did a practice swim with Shawn but I don't actually have any recollection of it this year. I do remember running to the rest room and it was definitely worth the trip.

Swim

I gingerly take off in the 5th wave. They changed the course this year and instead of a simple two turn swim you now have to double back. I make a left at the first buoy, I make two rights before hitting the long straightaway. I didn't see many buoy's marking the straightaway but I kept the lifeguards on my right which should have been the shortest route. At some point I see Shawn pass me on my right in the water. I thought about grabbing his leg but realized he might not find it funny. Amazingly, he also said he saw me after the race. I'm not sure how we both recognized each other in the middle of the water but his wetsuit is one of the more unique ones and I knew he was in the wave behind me and at the time not too many people were passing me. I hear my watch beep a few times marking every 500 meters. The third beep should have indicated the end was in sight but the final turn buoy was still way off in the distance. I finally hit the last turn buoy and make the turn for the beach. I mistimed the waves and got pounded pretty good and almost lost my goggles but just relaxed and waited for a good time to get closer to shore. I ended up in the top 50% in the age group for my swim and I felt a definite improvement in my comfort in the water overall.

T1

I forgot to hit the LAP button on my watch until I got to my bike, oh well. I was able to get myself and bike out of transition in a reasonable time. I make the turn onto the highway and grab a drink and notice that I forgot to put my second bottle on the bike in the morning somehow. DOH!

Bike

Just keep pedaling. It felt like a decent headwind but my overall speed was still good. At the turnaround I grabbed a bottle and made my way back towards the beach. My legs started feeling a little tired and knew I had the run left so I backed off just a little. I'm still pleased with the time, 8th overall in my age group.

T2

Decent T2. Nothing spectacular here.

Run

I felt good. I watched my heart rate hover around 145. The course has a section that has to be completed twice. After the second loop there is only about 1.5 miles to the finish and I picked up the pace. 8:00/mile average overall and I felt good afterwards like I could have gone again the next day. Just over the top 25% in my age group for the run is also pretty good for me.

Observations

• Shawn is a beast! He came in 2nd overall in his age group. He's looking good for the 70.3 World Championship in St. George in October. He's 3rd in this photo but that was only because there was a timing glitch.

• The swim WAS long. From Strava it said I swam with 16 other people. I checked a few of their swims and everyone had 1900+ meters and very similar GPS tracks. Everyone had the same course, but it was interesting for comparing times between 2022 and 2021. I did forget to Lap my watch when I got to T1.

• Malibu is a great race and I'm looking forward to 2023.