BFAS Triathlon Race Report

My new wheels!

After several months of putting up with frequent flat tires, and being perplexed on why it kept happening, I finally took the plunge and upgraded to a new wheelset.  I found a great price on Amazon for a set of Easton EA50 wheels, and they arrived in time for race day!

The BFAS Triathlon series is where Matt and I got bit by the tri-bug.  This was the first triathlon we ever did, back in 2010 and we’ve been hooked since.  They offer three races a year (plus a duathlon, which I participated in earlier this year) and it really a fun and well run event.  My personal best was the second race of last year, where I completed it in 1:16.  For this race, my goal was to get under 1:15 and be in the top half of my age group.

We arrive to the race site bright and early, we are old hat at this by now, and proceed to check in and get body marked.  We set up our bikes in transition area, and then headed out to the beach for the quarter mile ocean swim.  The ocean was pretty rough that morning, and there was a strong current as well.  Matt and I swam out for a warm-up and we both came in and commented on how rough it was.  It appeared we had a difficult swim ahead of us.

Artist rendition of what the swim looked like

We all lined up and waited for the opening horn to send us off.  And we waited, and waited and waited.  Having done this race a few times, I knew something was up, as they are usually very good at starting everything on time, and I suspected they were considering cancelling the swim.  Finally after several minutes, my suspicions were confirmed as the race director pulled everyone over and explained that the swim portion was going to be cancelled and replaced with a short (about a half mile) run on the beach.  No one really complained, and I suspect many were relieved. 

So they line us up on the beach, sounded the horn and we were off!  Since this run wasn’t really planned, the beach run wasn’t actually measured, but it was approximately just short of a half mile.  I hit the timing mat at 2:32 and began the 100 or so yard trek to the bike transition area.  I ran my bike out of transition, mounted and was on my way.  The bike course is 13.1 miles, and my personal best on this course is 35:46.  As this is a sprint triathlon, you don’t have to worry too much about pacing and saving yourself for the run.  And though I may not have gone 100% (there is still a run), I was going at least 95%.  I felt good the whole way and completed the course in 35:13, knocking over 30 seconds from my personal best.   I racked my bike, put on my running shoes, and headed out to the 5k course.

Running has always been my weakest discipline of the three, but it is the one I have been working the most on.  My previous record on this course was 26:55 (my GPS consistently measures this course a bit long, about 3.2 as opposed to 3.1) and I could tell right away, that I would best that easily.  I ran the first mile just under 8 minutes, and ran each mile faster than the previous.  I crossed the finish line with a run time of 24:26, easily smashing my old record.  My overall time ended up at 1:06:28 and I finished 6^th out of 15 in my age group.  Since they cancelled the swim, I can’t really compare that time to previous times, or my goal time. But since I have done this race several times, I know I usually swim the course in about 8-9 minutes.  I completed the first run in 2:32, so if I had 6.5 minutes to my overall time, that still puts me at 1:13ish, which is easily a personal record for me, and well under my goal time.  Couple that with the 6^th out of 15 finish, and I’m easily very pleased with my race results.  I’m especially pleased with the progress I’ve made in my running.  I still nowhere near as fast as Matt, but I’m at least making progress.

Speaking of my brother Matt, he also had a very successful race.  He finished 4^th overall (just missed a top three finish by 45 seconds), and was the champion of our age group.  He is really getting pretty fast and I think he has an excellent chance of finishing top 3, and maybe even winning our Ironman race in Orlando