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 Swim
Comments: A lot of contact but that's to be expected. I decided to start on the outside a couple of rows back. I wanted to have a little room without having to battle for position so much right from the start. Didn't really work. I don't know how bad it would have been had I started on the inside or middle, but it was still pretty crowded even on the outside. My navigation wasn't the best either. I tried to just follow some feet, but I always seemed to follow someone going wide off course. The sun made sighting tough on the way out so I just tried to follow the pack. Since I started on the outside, the pack I followed was way to outside of the buoys. I finally spotted the 1st turn buoy and made a big sweeping turn that took me out wide again and finally got in closer by the 2nd turn buoy and the homestretch. While my navigation wasn't the best, I did feel pretty comfortable throughout. I did have to pull up repeatedly to cross over someone or avoid being smacked in the head over and over so I never stayed in a good rhythm for long. But my conditioning felt good and I felt well within a comfortable heart rate zone throughout. Maybe I should have pushed it a bit more, but was happy with the time. What would you do differently?: Navigation. Maybe push pace a bit harder, especially at start and toward finish. Continue to train more.  Transition 1
Comments: Hadn't practice getting out of the wetsuit this year at all so I wasn't sure how I would do getting out of it. Wasn't too bad though. I had a little trouble getting it over my heels, but nothing too bad. Been leaving the shoes attached to the bike the past couple of races and this really saves time I think. One less thing to worry about in T1. I do need to practice a little more with hopping onto bike and getting into shoes a little more smoothly though. I was a little concerned with how the new transition layout would work this year since you had more lanes running lengthwise, but each one was narrower than the one main lenthwise lane they used to have (at least that's how I remember it being laid out). I thought there might be some problems if people on opposite sides of a lane were unracking their bikes at the same time and someone was trying to run with their bike toward the exit past them. I did have to run my bike around one other person that was headed for the exit a little slower than I was and barely had room to pass, but thankfully it wasn't much of a problem. Might have been for some others in later waves though when more people were crossing paths in transition? What would you do differently?: Practice getting out of wetsuit a few times before race. I meant to do this the day before but ran out of time. Continue to practice getting on bike quickly and into shoes.  Bike
Comments: Felt pretty good on the bike overall. Started off feeling great. Drank water from aero bottle and had a GU about 20 minutes into bike. Passed a ton of people. Got passed a few times also by very nice looking bikes and admired them as they rode away. Some wind along the course, but nothing too bad. I really wanted to have a good run (for me) this year so I had trouble deciding how much to push it on the bike. I think I found a decent balance. I never went into the red zone, but wasn't going for a joy ride either. A couple of spots toward the middle and end I lost a little concentration and my speed dropped so I had to pick it up again. Had a 2nd GU at about the 20 mile mark since I was starting to feel a little weak. I felt some tightness in my lower back toward the end also so I was slightly concerned how that would play into my run so I didn't want to push any harder the last few miles. Maybe could have gone a little more toward red line at this "shortish" distance race, but still figuring my abilities out so was happy overall. What would you do differently?: Push a little harder, maybe. Train more... more T.I.T.S. Transition 2
Comments: Not great, not bad. Leaving the shoes on the bike is a great time saver in my opinion so I've been working on that the past few races. Had no problem hopping off the bike and running into transition. Had a minor delay getting bike back on rack because of water bottles behind seat are higher than rack, but nothing major. Since my bike shoes were already off, just had to get helmet off, stand on towel and get running shoes on, then grab hat, race belt, and water bottle and head out. What would you do differently?: Nothing I can think of. Just do it all quicker.  Run
Comments: This is were I could make or break my race goals. I was shooting for a 2:25 secretly, and a 2:30 if anyone asked so I knew I was doing okay, but needed to have a decent run. With the tightness I had felt in my lower back toward the end of the bike, I was a little worried, but as soon as I headed out I knew that wouldn't be a problem. My biggest problem during the run at most races is overheating. All of my races have been in Florida so far and when I get too hot on the run I just can't seem to push the pace. When I do training runs and the weather is relatively cool (like at night), I can push it so much better. But since I race in Florida and they don't run them at night, I had to make a plan. I decided to start running with a water bottle in my hand simply to use for pouring water over my head. I tried the fuel belt and the tiny bottles were too hard to fill on the run so I went with just a regular bottle (I think it's a 16 or 20 oz bottle) that has a strap to put your hand through. It has a wide lid so when I get to an aid station I just grab 2 or 3 cups from volunteers and pour them in the bottle. If I still have time a grab one to drink and keep on truckin. Then I can keep myself somewhat cool in between aid stations and don't die waiting for the next one. I think it worked pretty well for the race and I was able to keep a pretty decent pace for the most part without blowing up. The last 3/4 mile or so was still pretty damn hot with the turn to the finish shoot in site but still oh so far away. I saw a few guys in my age group up ahead, but my group was so big that we had 3 waves so I didn't know if they were in my wave or not. I had tried to pick up the pace the last mile and thought about trying to pick it up even more to get around them, but at that point I didn't know if would have mattered or not and I was tired so I just kept doing what I could do and made the turn into the finish chute. That is a great feeling to make that left turn and know it's almost there. The crowds are alway incredible at St. Anthony's and it's a wonderful finishing chute for a race. What would you do differently?: Just keep on training and try to get faster. Post race
Warm down: After getting finishers medal and a bottle of GE, I grabbed a couple of ice-water soaked towels and put them over my head and neck. Felt incredibly good. Then I resoaked them and rubbed my legs down some to cool them off. Met my wife and gave her a hug and kiss and told her a little about the race while I drank some water and GE. I felt bad for her because she wanted to do this race and wasn't able to, but she still had a big smile on her face and it was great to have her at the finish line. I made my way over the the food tent and got lucky as the line was still relatively short so I grabbed a slice of pizza and a small bowl of beans and rice and finished those off with a small can of generic cola. Then we walked back to the finish chute area to wait for friends to finish. I stretched a little and jogged for a few minutes to hopefully flush out the legs. Cheered some friends in and hung out for a beer with them and then headed to transition to pick up bike and head out. What limited your ability to perform faster: Lack of swimming ability and training hours, lack of 200 mile training weeks on the bike and legs of steel, lack of a bike and wheels that cost more than my car (although I don't really know for sure this would make me faster since I've only ever ridden my bike, but I can't help but wonder), and last but not least, my lack of sub-7 minute/mile run pace ability at this distance that seemingly everyone else in my age group has. Seriously, I just need to swim, bike, run more and get faster. That's the bottom line. Event comments: This is a great event. They are extremely organized and the spectators are wonderful, especially on the run course. The volunteers do an incredibly job and should be thanked more than they are. I plan to be back next year (with a slightly lower time goal) and hope the good vibes continue. Last updated: 2006-12-15 12:00 AM
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United States
Sunny
Overall Rank = 346/
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 43/346
Early dinner the night before at Carraba's around 6PM. I heard about the big dinner at Marino's and thought about checking it out just to see what the crowd looked like. I don't post on the site much, but I do check out the forums occasionally so I'm familiar with some of the regulars on the site although I've never met anyone in person (at least not that I know of).
Anyway, since I live 45 minutes away and I didn't want to get back home too late so I decided against going to Baywalk. Wanted to get to bed early, but of course ended up fiddling with stuff at home and only got to bed around 10:30PM. Slept reasonbly well, woke up at 4AM and had a bowl of oatmeal and a yogurt. Got dressed and grabbed my pre-packed gear bag and headed out the door around 4:30. Had a banana on the way out the door and grabbed all of my water bottles.
Rode with a friend to race and got there a little after 5AM. Loved getting there early before all of the masses started arriving. Breezed through a mostly empty body-marking line, had a restroom break and changed into tri-shorts, then proceeded into transition to set up. Transition area is huge for this race. Took my time setting everything up and double checking everything. Then went for a short jog around the block because I had the time. Came back into transition and put shoes back and re-checked everything. Went to help a friend who was a first-timer set up his transition and then started walking the 3/4 mile to swim start around 6:45. Saw the sunrise over the bay as I arrived. Was a beautiful thing. My wave was at 7:30. I made it to swim start just before 7, got my timing chip there and made it down to the beach just before the pro's went off. Met my wife and a couple of friends there. Put on wetsuit, ate a GU and made my way to the water for a brief warmup.
Through the whole pre-race morning, I felt as relaxed as I ever have before a race. I think arriving early was a big help so I didn't have to rush around and battle the crowds. I also think the fact that I was trained as well as I've ever been for a race made me more relaxed. Eating so early the night before and race morning was also good I think. I had no stomach issues before or during the race. In fact, I only visited the restroom the one time as soon as I got there, whereas in past races I would have had a nervous stomach from the time I woke up until the gun went off. Just felt really calm and ready for the race this time.
One last thing that really helped was the weather. Nice and calm. The water was smooth as could be and very comfortable temp. Air temp was nice and wind was down. Couldn't have asked for better conditions.
Short jog before walking to swim start and then short swim, maybe 200 meters or so, before heading the start chute.