The Day After.....

Well my first big event of the year has come and gone and like most of life there was were some good things and some not so good things. Let's start with the good stuff.....

The Triathlon....

2 big thumbs up, WAY UP! For an event that has 4000 + participants, this is one of the best events I have ever entered. I fully intend to enter this event next year. Every thing was well organized, every thing went off on time and the event and sport expo was great even if I didn't buy anything.

The Competition

Every once in a while a pro or top level amateur shows up at an event I do, well there were at least 3 whole waves of both at St. Anthonys! When I arrived at the transition area on Saturday I came across Faris Al-Sultan. For those of you not familiar with Faris he is the 2005(?) Hawaii ironman world champion. I also noted that Faris' bike was probably in excess of 10 grand (hell his handlebar assembly looked to be around 2 or 3 grand. There is nothing like riding with the big boys to get the adrenaline pumping. U.S. Olympian Matthew Reed ended up winning in the ridiculous time of 1 hour 46 minutes and change. Andy Potts who finished second completed the swim in a ridiculous 18:21! When I entered the swim - bike transition I heard the race announcer say the Greg Bennett was chasing the two leaders (mentioned above) while running at a 5 minute per mile pace! So make no mistake, there were some amazing athletes present.

The Course

The swim was in a bay so that was a good thing. The day prior to the race I saw a dolphin jumping around so that was kind of cool as well. The water temperature was a comfy 74 degrees. So what could go wrong you ask? The waves were a bit high so it made getting a good rhythm going tough, and when we turned for shore the tide was constantly pushing me away from the swim exit. I actually ended up swiming perpendicular to the swim exit to compensate and I ended up getting out of the water in 41:38 about 3 and a half minutes better than my previous best. So I was happy about that.

The Bike.

Rumoured to be completely flat, the bike was MOSTLY flat. There were some stretches of false flat but you really couldn't ask for much flatter. The one downside to the bike course was the number of turns which made it a bit hard to keep your speed up. All in all, a very doable course, I was slightly off my projected bike time, but only by about 1 or 2 %. Coming so early in my season I really can't complain about that.

The Transitions

When you do a race with more than 4000 participants the transition area is HUGE! Most of my bike - run transition was just getting out of the transition area! I will say that the speed laces I purchased must have knocked a good 30 - 60 seconds off my transition, so I highly recommend them. I will also highly recommend Body Glide for the swim - bike transition. For one thing it prevented the nasty neck rash that I developed the last time I did an olympic distance tri, a result of the wetsuit rubbing as a turned my head to breathe. It also made getting the wetsuit off immensely easier.

The Run

OK the run is on a nice out and back course, it is also under the BLAZING Florida heat! When I got off the bike I was right on schedule to break the 3 hour mark (my goal for the race). I needed to run a 9 minute mile for the 10k, something I normally can do, no problem. Somewhere during the run (by my recollection about mile 1.5), someone cut off the power and I struggled to a 1:03 10K. Arrgh! I missed my mark by about 6 minutes! that was the minute per mile that I lost in the 10K. My last Olympic tri I ran 56 minutes for the 10k so I guess I have to focus on the run for next year.

The Miscellaneous

We found a good English pub before the race and I had the best mixed drink I've had in years. It's called a dark and story (Dark rum and ginger beer very invigorating). They also made excellent black and tans (they received a 1999 perfect pour award from Guiness), top that off with the Guiness burger (beef marinated in Guiness and onions) and you everything a hungry triathlete needs post race.

Random thoughts...

2 days prior to the race there was a report of a triathlete attacked by a shark in San Diego. This seemed like a bad omen, but the sharks evidently were alarmed by having 4000 people in the water and they left us alone.

Use tri bike transport.... I used the service this year which allows you to drop off your bike locally and pick it up at the race. As someone who has traveled frequently with my bike, I must say, this saved alot of time and effort. On top of that it's only $25 more than the airlines charge and it's a whole lot more reliable, plus there's no need to assemble / disassemble your bike, a nice perk.

Pre-Race neurosis....

A race buddy of mine, who shall remain nameless, evidently was a bit perturbed that the hotel they were staying at had the nerve to book a wedding reception the night before the big race. After verbally abusing the hotel staff my buddy managed to compose themselves enough to actually try and get some sleep. Alas, all the water my buddy drank to hydrate for the race, undermined their effort by forcing them to wake up every hour on the hour. Moral of the story: Be nice to others or the race Gods will get you.......

Things to icky to comtemplate....

What do you do at the 750 meter mark in the swim if you have to pee???? Well if you ask most guys they will say just pee..... If you ask most women, apparently, the thought of having their own urine in their wetsuits with them makes them say "I'll just hold it..." We did find one woman who admitted to peeing in her wetsuit and we noticed no one was willing to carry her wetsuit for her. The moral of this story: If you're a girl just lie about it.....

In conclusion.....

Well it was an EXPERIENCE....... I look forward to it again next year (after I get over the soreness). Now I move onto to my next goal, a century in four weeks time (more on that later). Till then keep safe and keep training.....

Peace

Rob

28 #&@!!#^ degrees.....

Sorry about the blogging delay, but with my first big event of the season coming up (not to mention taxes and family) I have been a bit preoccupied. So what does the title of this months entry mean? Well that was the temperature at start time of my first race of the season, the Central Park Duathlon (March 30th). Yeah it was that cold! Luckily (if you can call it that) I had brought clothes to change into after the race and I was able to use those to stay warm in the race itself! I had hoped to better my time from last October when I did this same race. The weather, however, had other plans. In addition, I found out one of my tri buddies, Eric, was injured and would have to miss both this race and the St Anthony's tri in April. I felt bad for Eric knowing how hard he was training. At least he can defer the St. Anthony's race until next year. I did however, have his sister Melissa for company and she soldiered on with me in the brutal conditions. What amazed me more than anything about the race was the insane racers in SHORTS! Yes, people we racing as if the temperature was in the 60's not the 20's! I managed to finish in a respectable 1:19 for the 2m run, 12m bike, 2m run. My bike time was almost identical from last year, but my runs were substantially slower (it was really hard to get and stay warm). Anyway I tried out my reconfigured Kestrel (replaced the drop bars with cowhorns and aero bars) and the new setup worked OK. I say only OK because, the bars were slipping just a bit and I still think I am a bit too stretched out. I may go to a shorter stem for a bit more comfort.

Other than the trials and tribulations of racing, training seems to be rolling along well. I took 5 days and jetted off to St. John with the wife for a relaxing vacation. Nothing like splashing around the Carribean to take the edge off. This was a recovery week in a big way. I came back feeling refreshed and rested and my first time back on the bike the legs felt great. I am looking forward to renewed vigor for the remaining weeks of training. Hope to see you all in Tampa.

Peace

Rob