Central FL Tri Series #1 (International Distance) - TriathlonOlympic

Fastest swim in an oly to date, a minute faster than April when I had a wetsuit on (no suit today). I am pleased. I think most of the time decrease is due to better sighting and less off-track excursions. I certainly didn't feel like I was swimming fast.

Had a bit of trouble getting my shoes and heart rate monitor strap on, but I managed eventually.

I am very happy with my bike today. Looking at the speed, you won't be impressed, but note that the fastest guy in my age group turned in a 19.x mph average..that is a tough course! I was 3 minutes off of his time, riding a 30 lb steel road bike with no aerobars. Heck, Heather Gollnick won the women's overall with a bike average in the 19.x range. Of course, there was Kevin Grogan who averaged 23 mph, but he's a freak or something. :)

I got some valuable pacing information from the Powertap, and I was actually nearly 5 minutes faster than my time on the same course with the Felt (light tri bike) a couple of months ago. Factors I attribute this to:
I think my bike fitness is coming along, I climb better on the road bike, despite the weight, and the PT helped me pace the uphills.

Good transition, smoked down the hill, jumped off, no problems.

I wish I'd been able to step up the run a bit. I think today it was more about the heat than leg fatigue. My legs felt fine but I couldn't crank it up any more. On the second lap I was feeling like I was flirting with overheat. I was shirtless which may have been a mistake.

Wear a white shirt, maybe a hat.

I enjoyed the race today..well, I can say that after I forget how much it hurt..but I have to stop doing these as sleep deprivation experiments.

I got 5 hours of sleep Friday night, rode 29 miles Sat. morning, did chores and cleaned the gym, then drove to Clermont in the evening, arriving at 11 PM. Got maybe 3-4 hours of decent sleep as I was keyed up despite being dead tired.

Anyway, enough whining..I made some progress this race. I ate a bigger breakfast (Denny's Grand Slam as pre-race food rocks!), drank Gatorade during the race, and that seems to be good for me, at least at this distance. I'll need more for the half.

My swim's coming along; I'm still no speedster but the Master's workouts are *definitely* helping.

The other fun thing was getting faster on the bike, despite riding all week and the fact that I rode Big Fat Blue, the 29 lb road bike (I did take the rack off). I think with some Powertap riding time, I'll be ready to pace my race better on these rolling courses. It was a lot of fun passing people on P3s with disc wheels on the steel clunker. :)

Now if only I can get my big @ss moving on the run...