St. Anthony's Race Report

The Three Amigos! Jason, Matt (my brother) and I headed down to St. Petersburg, FL on Saturday morning for The St. Anthony's Triathlon on Sunday. Matt and I were going as competitors, while Jason was coming for emotional support (plus he really likes road trips).    Spirits were high, and we knew tomorrow was going to be a great day.

Matt and I before our swim start

We arrived in St. Pete  around 4:00 pm, and headed to the registration area.  Registration was incredibly smooth and we picked up our packets and goodies and moved on the bike check in.  We setup our bikes in their assigned spots and met back up with Jason to check into the hotel and get some dinner.   On a side note, my favorite part of the bike check-in was observing all the bikes and noticing how many of them are really high end.   It’s like I can put together a mental wish list for my next bike purchase.

Sunday morning we woke up before dawn, around 4:40 am, and proceeded to get ready.  Jason dropped us off at the race site at around 5:50 am, we got our body marking done, and then we finished setting up our transition area.  The race started at 6:50 am with the Male Pro’s, but Matt and I’s wave didn’t go off until 7:35 am, so we had some time to get warmed up.

150 swimmers (including Me and Matt)
start our race!

At 7:35 the horn for our wave goes off and we all start swimming.  There were about 140-150 in our starting wave and that makes for a tight pack at the start of the swim.  For about the first 200-300 yards I’m pretty sure I swam on top of a couple guys, had a couple guys swim on top of me, and I think at least one time, I had a swimmer on top and underneath me.  I was kicked a half dozen time, and had my legs grabbed at least one.  Matt still has a scratch mark on his neck.  After about 300 yds the pack thinned out, and I was able to settle into my stroke.  Overall my swim ended up being slow, but that was mostly due to my inability to site.  When you are swimming in open water, there is no line on the bottom to guide you, so you need to look up and site the buoys from time-to-time.  I was continually swimming wide and had to constantly readjust my course.  The swim course is 1.5 km but I bet I swam more like 1.8-1.9 km.  Anyway, my goal was to complete it in 31 minutes and it actually took me 36 minutes.  Even though the time wasn’t great, I still felt great getting out of the water, and had plenty of energy for the rest of the race.

I climbed out the water, hurried over into the transition area, located my bike, quickly put on my bike gear then headed out to the bike course.  Starting on the bike, I felt great.  I was passing a number of people and was easily holding a speed between 23 and 24 mph.  At this point I was feeling good about my race and really felt like I was going to beat my goal time.  Then, at about mile 4, I heard a “POP!” and then a “SWOOSH!” and I knew instantly what it was, and that it was me.  FLAT TIRE!!  I hit something with my front tire and it had gone flat.  At this point there is not much you can do, and my race was over.  I had never gotten a flat during a race before, and I can tell you it is a very frustrating feeling!

So, my race over, I walked back to the transition area, and watched for Matt so I could at least offer him some support.  Matt had a terrific race, finishing with a time of 2:21:16 placing him 35^th out of 290 in our age group.  But probably the most impressive thing about his race, was his 10k time.  After swimming for  30 minutes, then biking hard for just over an hour, he still went out an ran a 39 minute 10k.  That was the 3^rd fastest run in his age group!

All in all, despite my disappointment, it was a fun day and we definitely plan on going back again next year!

St. Anthony's Preview

We are leaving this morning for St. Petersburg, FL and the St. Anthony’s Triathlon.  St. Anthony’s is one of the largest triathlons in the United States, having over 3,400 competitors.  It is an Olympic distance race, so that means a 1.5km (.93 mile) swim, 40 km (24.85 mile) bike, and 10km (6.2 mile) run.  Among the 3,400+ competitors, will be some of the world’s fastest professionals and elite amateurs. That’s one of the cool things about triathlon, us everyday age-groupers get to compete on the same course, at the same time, with the best in the world.

Because of the large field, the swim start goes of in waves.  The first wave will start Sunday morning at 6:50 am with the Male Pros, which will be followed a couple minutes later by the Female Pros.  Matt and I are in the 12^th wave (M35-39 M-Z) and will start our race at 7:35 am.  If you’ve never done a mass swim start, it’s an interesting experience.  Approximately 100 people all swimming in a similar area, all at once.  It pretty much expected that you will bump into each other, and you will probably get kicked at least once.  After about 200 yards or so, it starts to thin out and you can settle into your stroke.

Matt and I are in the same age group (Male 35-39).  It’s one of the largest age groups in the field, having close to 300 entries. (290 I believe is the exact amount).  My goal for this race is to be in the top half of my age group.  In order to accomplish that, I’m going to have to need a time of about 2:40-2:45.   I’ve broken down my goals as such:

Swim: 31 minutes

T1:  3 minutes

Bike: 72 minutes

T2: 2 minutes

Run: 55 minutes

That gives me a total time of 2:43.  Each of those is certainly doable for me,  my only concern is controlling myself on the bike, so that I have enough left for the run.  I have a tendency to go too hard on the bike (it’s probably my strongest of the 3 disciplines) and I don’t have enough energy to put forth a good run.  I’m going to try and control my pacing on the  bike for this race, and if I’m successful at that, then I think my run can be much better than my 55 minute goal.  I’m hopeful that I can break the 2:40 mark, but I’ll be happy if I’m less than 2:45.

I’m looking forward to the event, it should be a good time!

Prepping for St. Anthony's

Specific training for the Great Floridian won’t actually start for two more weeks.  This week has been about prepping myself for the St. Anthony’s Triathlon on Sunday.  My workouts this week have looked like this:

Tuesday:   Simulated, indoor Triathlon at the Y.  I swam a mile in the pool, then did 30 minutes on the spin bike, followed by 30 minutes on the treadmill.

Wednesday:  Easy paced 4 mile run (9:23 min/mile pace)

Thursday : 15 mile bike ride which included two 3 mile intervals at race pace.  (about 21 mph)  This was immediately followed by a 2 mile run at race pace. (8:50 min/mile)

 We leave Saturday morning for St. Petersburg.  I will post a specific race preview before I leave.

BFAST Duathlon Race Report

My first race of the season was the Beaches Fine Arts Series Duathlon, in Nocatee, FL.  I did this race last year and it’s a part of a local series my brother and I do each year.  The series consists of one duathlon and three triathlons.  I did all four last year, but this year I will miss the last triathlon, as it is the same weekend as my brother-in-law’s wedding.

Anyway, it’s a small race of about 160 competitors, and consists of a 2 mile run, 13 mile bike ride and then another 2 mile run.  My goal coming into the race was to be under 1:10 and to be in the top half of my age group (Male 35-39).

Me at the finish line!

I completed the first 2 miles in 14:13, which is about a 7:07 min/mile pace,  (to be fair, though, I think the course was a tad shorter than 2 miles) which put me in 7^th out of 12 in my age group.  I finished the bike portion in 36:02 (21.7 mph avg) which was 3^rd in my age group.  Going into the last 2 mile run I was sitting in 4^th place in my age group and well on pace to break 1:10.  The final run didn’t go very well, however, and I stumbled along, finishing in 17:03.  That gave me a final time of 1:08:55 (I spent about a minute and a half in transitions) and placed me 6^th out of 12 in my age group. 

Overall the race was a success, in that I completed both my time and placing goals.  I was disappointed in my final run, however, and realize that I’m going to have to get stronger in the latter parts of these races.

Link to the results of the race:

http://www.altavistasports.com/results/2012%20results/beachesfineartsseriesduathlon04152012.htm

Next up is the St. Anthony’s Olympic distance triathlon in St. Petersburg, FL.  That race will be this Sunday, and I will post a preview of the race at a later time.

First Post...

On Saturday, October 20, 2012, at 7:30 am I will jump into Lake Minneola and begin a 2.4 mile swim.  Following the swim I will then complete a 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run.  The event is the Great Floridian Triathlon in Clermont, FL and it will be my first time competing in an iron-distance triathlon.

This blog is intended to be my training log.  I will record my daily and weekly workouts, as well as my mental and physical state,with the intention of tracking my progress as I draw towards race day.  In addition to logging my workouts, I will post race reports from the half dozen or so events I will be competing in before the Great Floridian.

Finally, this blog gives me accountability.  I anticipate the preparation for this event will be difficult and will take a great deal of focus on my part.  By recording my workouts and making them publicly available for all to see (though "all" probably isn't that many), it gives me one more tool in the belt to help my motivation during the inevitable ups and downs of my training.