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Florida Challenge Triathlon
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Florida Challenge Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman
View Member's Race Log View other race reports
 Swim
Comments: 3 2 1 Start . . . ok go but take it slow this is a long race. Ouch that was a kick oh that was an elbow . . . Ok got my own little space now to swim these starts are always a little rough. Ok cruising . . . Hmm I wonder if this lake could have a lockness monster type creature – it is probably big enough . .oh no focus Kelly .. swim form . . . .hmm I hope I don’t get an ameba (one of those bac brain eating bus found in lakes) in my nose . . .focus Kelly focus . . ok doing well. Oh no my ankle chip ( chip device used to track us- it strapped around my ankle) is coming loose. Should I let it fall off and tell someone when I got out of the water or should I grab it and swim with it in my hand – but that will slow me down – oh I know I’ll grab it and stuff it in my tri suit and then put it on when I get out of the water. Ok now keep swimming I can’t believe I am still not done with this swim. This is a long way. Ok there is the shore. Yes up and out. Reattach my timing chip to my ankle and into transition. Oh there is Barb (Rick’s wife who came to support us) She is cheering for us. I finished the swim in 35mins and 37second and 5th out of the women. What would you do differently?: Get a wet suit and spot better  Transition 1
 Bike
Comments: Ok helmet check. Socks and Bike shoes check..sunglasses check…food check.. bike and go. Ok on the bike and cruising. I realize I must be one of the first out of the water because there is a police car leading the way for the girl in first on her bike. That is pretty cool. But she is going really fast and I can’t keep up plus I need to start off slow in the bike to make sure I can make it up Sugarloaf and all the other hills and still be able to run. So now is the time to fuel. I force a bar down and keep chugging water. Ok here are some hills but doing ok . Oh there is the water bottle exchange – about mile 15. Good think it is on the right because I am much better grabbing with my right hand while cruising on the bike. Ok slow down a little. Ok I hope the volunteer who hands me the water knows what he is doing and I don’t crash. Oh boy here I come. Hand out grab. Yes I got it!! That was great. Ok know careful and concentrate on pouring this water into your water bottle. Easy easy . Got it. Ok lets keep going where is Sugarloaf. “hey Kelly” - there goes James, one of our tri friends. “it’s coming it’s coming”. Ok James thanks like I didn’t know Sugarloaf was coming. “are you ready for this Kelly” - oh now it is Rick he is passing me too. These guys are so fast on the bike. Ok turn and boom there is Sugarloaf with bikers struggling up. Ok here goes. Ok I’m up about 1/8 th of the hill and I already have to stand on my bike and I am in the lowest gear. Push push. Oh my legs are burning and I am going 3 mph. push push – you can do it . just keep going… there is the top .. push push… yes I made. I made it!!!! I can do this race I am ready lets go lets go. I continued to cruise and made it thru Bay Hill too. Ok only ten more miles to go and my tushy is really hurting from this bike seat – why don’t they make them more comfortable. Ok eat another bar and some gu gels. At least the whether is cooperating – no rain and overcast skies. Ok so I think a total of 8 girls passed me so I am probably in 12 place going into Transition. My total bike time was 3 hours and 14 minutes and my time was 19th out of the females. Transition 2
Comments: .  Run
Comments: Oh it feels soo good to get off that bike. Ok sneakers check. . visor check . . gu gels check . . run number check . . garmin check and go. I feel great or maybe I’m just so happy to be off the bike. There is barb she yells “ go catch those boys” – referring to James and Rick so off I go plus I gotta catch some of the girls who passed me on the bike too. Ok one girl down . . .I still feel great I am running faster than I planned but I feel great .. . ok now I caught Rick .. . . next James. . . .then another girl . . ok this definitely a faster pace then I planned but I want to catch some more girls. Ok have a gu gel get water at the water station and a cold sponge to squeeze over my body. These spongies are great. Ok keep pushing. Ok got another girl etc …ended up passing 6 girls. Ok now at mile 10 and I am hurting but only 3 miles to go. I look back - ok no girls right behind me but I know my friend Diane is a fast runner and could be gaining on me so I continue to push. Mile 11 .. ok definitely going to feel this tomorrow….mile 12 …one more mile come on kel just hold on. I feel like the wheels are starting to come off – my legs really hurt. Half a mile to go. I run up next to a relatively older guy – he is 47 and he starts to run with me and challenges me that I can’t let an old man beat me. And I of course decide no I can’t and dig deep for one more kick the last ¼ mile to the finish. I got him yes there is the finish line. Oh my god my body hurts. I finished my run in 1 hour and 44 minutes and 35 seconds which was the 2nd faster run time for girls with an avg pace of 7:59 per mile. I remember hearing the announcer say my name and then I remember not feeling quite right and I remembered what the doctor said at the athlete’s meeting so I headed into the medic tent and started crying. Not really sure why but I guess I was just really happy it was over. It turned out I was fine just needed to calm down for a second. I ended up with a total time of 5 hours and 38 minutes and 55 seconds and 5th overall for female and 1st in my age group. The following 48 hours where filled with a lot of Motrin and ice but overall it was a great race, with great volunteers, and everyone finished with no major injuries or crashes. The best part after the race was when I talked to Nora about my day and she asked if I rode any horses. We thought this was hysterical. Post race
Last updated: 2007-10-21 12:00 AM
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 2007-10-21 11:47 PM |
Member 11 |  Subject: Florida Challenge Triathlon |
| 2007-10-22 7:19 AM in reply to: #1018062 |
Elite 2796     Texas | Subject: RE: Florida Challenge Triathlon Wow. Great race! Those are some nice spilts on a 1/2 IM. |
| 2007-10-22 8:24 AM in reply to: #1018062 |
Champion 19812 MA | Subject: RE: Florida Challenge Triathlon Sweet race! Congrats on well executed race and hardware 1st in AG nice You are a very fast runner especially after swim/bike. Love the horse comments...so did you ride any? |
| 2007-10-22 8:59 AM in reply to: #1018062 |
Expert 957 Charlotte, NC | Subject: RE: Florida Challenge Triathlon Awesome race and a great RR as well |
| 2007-10-22 9:45 AM in reply to: #1018062 |
Master 2485 Atlanta, Georgia | Subject: RE: Florida Challenge Triathlon Funny - we finished w/in 10secs of each other. . Your run split absolutely smokes!! Solid all the way around, esp doing the swim w/out a wetsuit. No kidding, I would love to run as fast as that - Congrats on your race. c |
| 2007-10-22 11:40 AM in reply to: #1018259 |
| Member 11 | Subject: RE: Florida Challenge Triathlon Thanks so much No we didn't ride any horses -- Nora is my niece who is 3 and loves horses. |
| 2007-10-22 5:25 PM in reply to: #1018062 |
Veteran 377 | Subject: RE: Florida Challenge Triathlon gee whiz! you did really good too. dang it all,, i have sooo much to learn. good job and a great report. I was able to relive some of mine with your comments. totally cool. FF |
| 2007-10-22 6:52 PM in reply to: #1018062 |
Master 1551 Virginia Beach, VA | Subject: RE: Florida Challenge Triathlon Great job!!  |
| 2007-10-22 9:43 PM in reply to: #1018062 |
Member 20 Clermont and Apopka, FL | Subject: RE: Florida Challenge Triathlon Awesome race...great splits. I let my timing chip go on my 1st kick and never gave it a second thought. |
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United States
Sommer Sports
78F / 26C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 65/350
Age Group = Overall Female
Age Group Rank = 5/85
We left Friday morning and heading to beautiful Clermont, FL. We had heard that the course was really hilly but we thought hey it’s Florida how bad can it be? Well we were wrong apparently the middle of Florida is very very hilly. I started to get pretty nervous as we pulled into Clermont and hit hill after hill. We picked up our race packets, checked our bikes into transition, and went to the athlete’s meeting. At the meeting we listened to the head doctor tell us about warning signs and dehydration. He mentioned that if you don’t quite feel right and can’t put your finger on it you should go to the medical tent because you are disorientated. Next we checked into the lovely Hampton Inn and meet up with our friends to drive the bike course in the car. Oh, boy this course is really hilly – which is not good because we don’t train on hills just the occasional bridge. We pulled up to the famous Clermont Hill --- Sugarloaf. This Hill was serious kinda like the hill up from Manayunk but not as long – thank god. So at this point I am pretty freaked out and I asked everyone is the car if it is illegal for you to get off your bike and walk it up the hill. They said no so I figured I could at least walk up the hill. Next we drove a few more miles and hit Bay Hill Rd, a long road with 3 huge steep hills in a row. This was going to be tough.
Next we all headed to Outback Steakhouse for dinner and then headed back to the hotel to pack for tomorrow. We were in bed by 9:30 but I was a ball of nerves and didn’t sleep very well because I kept having nightmares about SugarLoaf. Ok up and moving at 5:15. Forced my self to eat 2 peanut butter sandwiches. This is the worst forcing yourself to eat that early in the morning – yuck. We meant everyone down in the lobby and saw a bunch of other triathletes there and everyone was talking about the whether. Apparently it was not going to be hot but a seventy percent chance of rain and wind. So the bright side is that it will be cooler out – about 87 but the dark side is the rain makes biking very scary.
We arrived at transition to set up and it was raining so everything got wet. We had plastic bags and did our best to cover our running shoes to keep them dry for the run. Then we headed down to the lake. The officials made the race wet suit legal because the water temperature was below 78 degrees. This really didn’t matter to us because we don’t have wet suits yet. It felt like we were the only ones who didn’t have wet suits. About 85% of the athletes had a wet suit on. Apparently they make you swim faster.
No real warm up because we were running late and had to weigh in.