This is my 200th blog post (milestone) and my first race of 2012 is my 70th triathlon\duathlon that I have finished. I have only had two dnfs, one at St. Anthony's in 2009, and one from a flat.
This is my 5th time at St. Anthony's. 2008, 2010, 2012 were full Olypmic distance, 2009 there was no swim for the AG due to weather and I had a stress fracture, so I did the bike and dropped out. In 2011, the swim course was shortened and moved to a different location. 2010 I was recovering from the stress fracture. Typically it is hot, especially the flat, mostly shadeless, run course. This year was no different. There is some history. Now to the present.
I arrived in Orlando and drove to Ocala to my mom and stepdad's on Thursday afternoon. Just hungout there Thursday night. My rental "car" was a brand new Dodge Dakota Crew, surprisingly nice.
Friday morning I got up and assembled the bike, which was nicely packed and shipped by Gear West, some pictures above. No problem assembling the bike. Went for a 25 minute bike ride after lunch, so it was early afternoon. It was hot. I biked a little easy and a little hard, wanted to make sure the bike was ok, and make sure I was ok. I then went for a short run, about 11 minutes. It was hot. Spent the rest of the day relaxing.
Saturday we got up and drove to St. Petersburg and checked in at the race. As usual, packet pickup and bike deposit was super easy. They do a really good job of getting people through. Probably one of the best races to take care of packet pickup, especially for such a big race.
When I got to the hotel, I was dripping with sweat, just from walking around to do packet pickup, drop off bike, and walking the expo. Took a quick shower, laid out all the stuff for the race, and relaxed before dinner. Had dinner at the usual place, a sports bar near the hotel, that has a good spiral meatloaf (beef, pork, cheese, red peppers, and spinach), green and yellow squash, and mashed potatoes. Yum. Also had a couple Sam Adams Summer Ale. Yum.
Fell asleep by about 9:30, woke up about 4 times during the night, but fell back asleep quickly. Woke up with my alarm at about 3:20, showered, had coffee, yogurt with crushed nuts, oj, and banana for breakfast. On the ride over, and the walk from the car to the transistion area, I drank some Gatorade and at about half a Clif Bar, Clif Bar did not taste very good to me. In hindsight, I probably should have had a little more to eat. I think I drank enough. Besides a cup of coffee, 8 oz of oj, I drank about 3/4 of 32 oz Gatorade and a liter of water.
Brief sidetrack, I drank almost my whole 20 oz water bottle on the bike (about 80% water and 20% Gatorade) and at every water stop on the run I either poured water on myself, got water in my mouth and spit it out, or drank some water. I also took a gel on the bike. Taking a gel is odd, I usually don't do that, but I felt I needed it.
Back to the transition, pictures below. With my bike already there it was pretty easy to setup, and I was early, so I did not have to fight for space. Also, this year they let us put our bags along the massive fence line, this was helpful. I had some time to burn, as I usually do, since I show up so early. I saw David Thompson, the pro from St. Paul, and chatted with him briefly, and also said "hi" to Jerry, the announcer who announces races everywhere.
After putzing and using the bathroom, I said one last "by" to my mom and stepdad and walked to the swim start. It is point-to-point, so basically it is a one mile walk for 3000 people.
While waiting for my start, I was briefly interviewed by a guy from the Tampa Bay Times (http://www.tampabay.com/components/video/v/1612278030001) he interviewed me for about 5 minutes, and then put me in the clip for about 15 seconds. It was strange.
It was an open water swim start, as usual, I took it easy off the start and built up. The 35-39 AG has about 240 people in it, and is split into two waves, so about 120 people in my wave, the swim was a bit of mess for the first half. The water was pretty calm, but lots of people all over the place. I got hit, run into, I ran into people, etc. The swim starts parallel to shore and the turns out and away, when we made the turn the water got very choppy and there was a lot of roll. It continued this way the rest of the swim, even back into the shore the water was choppy.
Once out, I did a pretty good job of getting to my bike and out of T2. It was a pretty fast transition for me. On the way out of transition Jerry saw me and made a comment about my bald head, that it was intentional and something about how it made me look better (sexy?).
The bike is flat and fast and the wind was not too bad this year. There is not to much to say about it, except that it was crowded at times and not enough people would yell, "On your left!" when passing, which is not cool. I tend to say it everytime I pass someone, and frequently got a positive response.
As expected, with about 4 miles to go, my back and neck started bugging me. Typical for early in the year, I am not ready to ride that long in aerobars. I was pretty sore in the neck and shoulders the next day.
I got off the bike pretty quick and out of transistion feeling ok. I started off slower than usual. Typically I borderline sprint out of transition and run hard the first half mile to mile and then back-off. My legs felt a little tired this morning. The run is flat, and you begin to realize how hot it is outside. I think I did the first two miles in about 17 minutes, a nice 8:30 pace, I ended up at a 8:53 pace. Just after mile 5, I did something I rarely have ever done, especially in a Oly distance, I walked for 30 seconds. I just felt ick, and needed to take a breath and clear myself. I was then able to run in. I later found out, as you will see below, I ran the exact same time as last year. Exact same time. That is really, really strange.
Anyway, when it was over I chatted with a few people from MN that I know, and at some food. One of them is the winner of the Men's Elite, Dan Hedgecock (who has his race report at http://danhedgecock.blogspot.com/), and his girlfriend Claire who is also an Elite Triathlete. David, the pro from MN, whose blog is at http://thompsontri.blogspot.com/. Also, Tim, who is a coworker from MN, and his wife. Tim did very good also, and can also be seen in the Tampa Bay Times video.
After the race we stopped at Sonny's a BBQ place in FL, and I think GA, and had all you can chicken. Got back to my mom's and very uncomfortably and sweatly packed the bike up.
All in all, I am happy with the race. First race of the year is, in my opinion, a bit of a chance to get see where I am at, especially a race like this where I am not competitive in my AG. I learned that I need to work on my run, which I knew and is usually the case this time of year, and everything else seems to be in pretty good shape for this time of year. This was my fastest time, by about a minute, on this course, when at the full Oly distance. The time improvement is swim, T1, and T2.
The triathlon season has officially begun for me! Hooray!
Below are my times from this year and previous years
2012 Results
Swim (1640 yards, new course) - 29:03 (1:47/100 yards, wetsuit)
T1 - 2:18
Bike (24.8 miles) - 1:12:54 (20.4MPH)
T2 - 2:42 (sprayed some sunblock on myself, put on socks, and forgot my race belt and had to turn around and get it)
Run (6.2 miles) - 55:04 (8:53/mile)
Total - 2:41:51
Overall - 977/2689
AG - 124/236
Overall Pace - 5:04/mile
2011 Results
Swim (1094 yards, shortened for weather) - 17:56 (1:48/100 yards, no wetsuit)
T1 - 5:49 (shorter swim course, loooonnnggg run to T1)
Bike (24.8 miles) - 1:10:44 (21.1 MPH)
T2 - 2:45
Run (6.2 miles) - 55:04 (8:53/mile)
Total - 2:32:18
Overall - 980/3125
AG - 110/239
Overall Pace - 4:49/mile
2010 Results
Swim (1640 yards) - 29:36 (1:49/100 yards, this was wetsuit)
T1 - 3:12
Bike (24.8 miles) - 1:15:10 (19.8 MPH)
T2 - 2:27
Run (6.2 miles) - 58:33 (9:22/mile, coming off stress fracture)
Total - 2:48:56
Overall - 1264/3192
AG - 156/287
Overall Pace - 5:18/mile
2009 Results
No swim due to weather, then dropped out after bike due to stress fracture
Bike (24.8 miles) - 1:10:43 (21.1MPH)
2008 Results
Swim (1640 yards) - 30:58 (1:53/100 yards, wetsuit)
T1 - 3:38
Bike (24.8 miles) - 1:11:48 (20.8MPH)
T2 - 3:42
Run (6.2 miles) - 52:54 (8:31/mile)
Total - 2:42:57
Overall - 1258/3350
AG - 121/231
Overall Pace - 5:11/mile
This is my 5th time at St. Anthony's. 2008, 2010, 2012 were full Olypmic distance, 2009 there was no swim for the AG due to weather and I had a stress fracture, so I did the bike and dropped out. In 2011, the swim course was shortened and moved to a different location. 2010 I was recovering from the stress fracture. Typically it is hot, especially the flat, mostly shadeless, run course. This year was no different. There is some history. Now to the present.
I arrived in Orlando and drove to Ocala to my mom and stepdad's on Thursday afternoon. Just hungout there Thursday night. My rental "car" was a brand new Dodge Dakota Crew, surprisingly nice.
Saturday we got up and drove to St. Petersburg and checked in at the race. As usual, packet pickup and bike deposit was super easy. They do a really good job of getting people through. Probably one of the best races to take care of packet pickup, especially for such a big race.
When I got to the hotel, I was dripping with sweat, just from walking around to do packet pickup, drop off bike, and walking the expo. Took a quick shower, laid out all the stuff for the race, and relaxed before dinner. Had dinner at the usual place, a sports bar near the hotel, that has a good spiral meatloaf (beef, pork, cheese, red peppers, and spinach), green and yellow squash, and mashed potatoes. Yum. Also had a couple Sam Adams Summer Ale. Yum.
Fell asleep by about 9:30, woke up about 4 times during the night, but fell back asleep quickly. Woke up with my alarm at about 3:20, showered, had coffee, yogurt with crushed nuts, oj, and banana for breakfast. On the ride over, and the walk from the car to the transistion area, I drank some Gatorade and at about half a Clif Bar, Clif Bar did not taste very good to me. In hindsight, I probably should have had a little more to eat. I think I drank enough. Besides a cup of coffee, 8 oz of oj, I drank about 3/4 of 32 oz Gatorade and a liter of water.
Brief sidetrack, I drank almost my whole 20 oz water bottle on the bike (about 80% water and 20% Gatorade) and at every water stop on the run I either poured water on myself, got water in my mouth and spit it out, or drank some water. I also took a gel on the bike. Taking a gel is odd, I usually don't do that, but I felt I needed it.
Back to the transition, pictures below. With my bike already there it was pretty easy to setup, and I was early, so I did not have to fight for space. Also, this year they let us put our bags along the massive fence line, this was helpful. I had some time to burn, as I usually do, since I show up so early. I saw David Thompson, the pro from St. Paul, and chatted with him briefly, and also said "hi" to Jerry, the announcer who announces races everywhere.
After putzing and using the bathroom, I said one last "by" to my mom and stepdad and walked to the swim start. It is point-to-point, so basically it is a one mile walk for 3000 people.
While waiting for my start, I was briefly interviewed by a guy from the Tampa Bay Times (http://www.tampabay.com/components/video/v/1612278030001) he interviewed me for about 5 minutes, and then put me in the clip for about 15 seconds. It was strange.
It was an open water swim start, as usual, I took it easy off the start and built up. The 35-39 AG has about 240 people in it, and is split into two waves, so about 120 people in my wave, the swim was a bit of mess for the first half. The water was pretty calm, but lots of people all over the place. I got hit, run into, I ran into people, etc. The swim starts parallel to shore and the turns out and away, when we made the turn the water got very choppy and there was a lot of roll. It continued this way the rest of the swim, even back into the shore the water was choppy.
Once out, I did a pretty good job of getting to my bike and out of T2. It was a pretty fast transition for me. On the way out of transition Jerry saw me and made a comment about my bald head, that it was intentional and something about how it made me look better (sexy?).
The bike is flat and fast and the wind was not too bad this year. There is not to much to say about it, except that it was crowded at times and not enough people would yell, "On your left!" when passing, which is not cool. I tend to say it everytime I pass someone, and frequently got a positive response.
As expected, with about 4 miles to go, my back and neck started bugging me. Typical for early in the year, I am not ready to ride that long in aerobars. I was pretty sore in the neck and shoulders the next day.
I got off the bike pretty quick and out of transistion feeling ok. I started off slower than usual. Typically I borderline sprint out of transition and run hard the first half mile to mile and then back-off. My legs felt a little tired this morning. The run is flat, and you begin to realize how hot it is outside. I think I did the first two miles in about 17 minutes, a nice 8:30 pace, I ended up at a 8:53 pace. Just after mile 5, I did something I rarely have ever done, especially in a Oly distance, I walked for 30 seconds. I just felt ick, and needed to take a breath and clear myself. I was then able to run in. I later found out, as you will see below, I ran the exact same time as last year. Exact same time. That is really, really strange.
Anyway, when it was over I chatted with a few people from MN that I know, and at some food. One of them is the winner of the Men's Elite, Dan Hedgecock (who has his race report at http://danhedgecock.blogspot.com/), and his girlfriend Claire who is also an Elite Triathlete. David, the pro from MN, whose blog is at http://thompsontri.blogspot.com/. Also, Tim, who is a coworker from MN, and his wife. Tim did very good also, and can also be seen in the Tampa Bay Times video.
After the race we stopped at Sonny's a BBQ place in FL, and I think GA, and had all you can chicken. Got back to my mom's and very uncomfortably and sweatly packed the bike up.
All in all, I am happy with the race. First race of the year is, in my opinion, a bit of a chance to get see where I am at, especially a race like this where I am not competitive in my AG. I learned that I need to work on my run, which I knew and is usually the case this time of year, and everything else seems to be in pretty good shape for this time of year. This was my fastest time, by about a minute, on this course, when at the full Oly distance. The time improvement is swim, T1, and T2.
The triathlon season has officially begun for me! Hooray!
Below are my times from this year and previous years
2012 Results
Swim (1640 yards, new course) - 29:03 (1:47/100 yards, wetsuit)
T1 - 2:18
Bike (24.8 miles) - 1:12:54 (20.4MPH)
T2 - 2:42 (sprayed some sunblock on myself, put on socks, and forgot my race belt and had to turn around and get it)
Run (6.2 miles) - 55:04 (8:53/mile)
Total - 2:41:51
Overall - 977/2689
AG - 124/236
Overall Pace - 5:04/mile
2011 Results
Swim (1094 yards, shortened for weather) - 17:56 (1:48/100 yards, no wetsuit)
T1 - 5:49 (shorter swim course, loooonnnggg run to T1)
Bike (24.8 miles) - 1:10:44 (21.1 MPH)
T2 - 2:45
Run (6.2 miles) - 55:04 (8:53/mile)
Total - 2:32:18
Overall - 980/3125
AG - 110/239
Overall Pace - 4:49/mile
2010 Results
Swim (1640 yards) - 29:36 (1:49/100 yards, this was wetsuit)
T1 - 3:12
Bike (24.8 miles) - 1:15:10 (19.8 MPH)
T2 - 2:27
Run (6.2 miles) - 58:33 (9:22/mile, coming off stress fracture)
Total - 2:48:56
Overall - 1264/3192
AG - 156/287
Overall Pace - 5:18/mile
2009 Results
No swim due to weather, then dropped out after bike due to stress fracture
Bike (24.8 miles) - 1:10:43 (21.1MPH)
2008 Results
Swim (1640 yards) - 30:58 (1:53/100 yards, wetsuit)
T1 - 3:38
Bike (24.8 miles) - 1:11:48 (20.8MPH)
T2 - 3:42
Run (6.2 miles) - 52:54 (8:31/mile)
Total - 2:42:57
Overall - 1258/3350
AG - 121/231
Overall Pace - 5:11/mile
1 comment:
Told you you'd set a PR! I was out on the TT bike last night for the 1st time and my neck and upper back were in pain by the end (20 miler). I certainly need to get in some aero practice to alleviate that. But then, I have some bad disks. Old man, you know.
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