Back ground: (sorry, it's longer than I realized)
I had run into one of my cousins from St Pete last Labor Day, and the subject of Triathlon came up. It seems that he, too, had gotten bit by the Tri bug, as did his oldest boys. He mentioned St A's, and it sounded great, I'd head down and we'd do the race togeter. It was going to be his first OLY, and I thought it'd be fun to do it with him.. But then I looked into the cost to travel down, and it didn't look so good. Then, to my wife's shagrin, a Team in Training flyer showed up at my house advertising for St Anthony's. I jumed as fast and as hard as I could, and before my wife could say otherwise, I had TNT agreeing to trading my hotel cost for airfare for my wife. How could she say no?(we were going to stay with our cousins). The TNT program is great overall, and had benefits for people who have done a few races as well as newbies. The fundraising was a bear (St A's is the highest fundraising goal in CT), but in retrospect, could be better managed if I choose to do it again. The other TNT members all worked hard in training and fundraising, so the CT team of 12 headed down for the race.
Pre Race:
WOW. What a venue and race. Prior to this the largest race I had been to was Mooseman in New Hampsire. St A's this year had over 6000 registered and over 3500 individuals plus relays finishing. Quite well organized and run, great expo, and fast, flat course.
My wife and I had arrived Thursday evening, a day ahead of the TNT group. Friday afternoon my cousin and I swam the course, as the swim was his weak event. The water was pretty calm at that time despite some wind, and we both had gained some confidence for the race. Registration was a breeze, bike check in was great, and though I opted not to go, there was a few talks on race prep and all things Tri from pro's like Greg Bennet and Craig Alexander. Saturday I picked up my bike from transport, and I headed out with the TNT crowd for a tour of the run course for a final workout / check ride after transport. That night was the TNT appreciation dinner at the Vinoy Renassiance. The meal was great, and the guest speaker was Dave Scott, who chatted about 35 minutes and could have spoken more without being boring. He mainly spoke on topics geared for the majority of TNT participants, but his advice was good for vets as well.
The race:
Is it just me or does everyone get to transition late, and rush to make the swim warm up? I thought I had everything covered, but I would find out later that my Garmin wasn't set up the way that I wanted, nor had I applied sunscreen, though it was with me in transition. OOPS. As I got to the swim start, I noticed that the swells seemed to be a bit larger than Friday, but didn't seem too bad during warm up. I got to watch the pro men and women, then the elites take off before I got into the chute. This was going to be interesting for me, as this was my first running start and for once I was determined to start and stay with the crowd instead of meander along in the back. The gun - off and running. Not so bad I thought, I swam over one person and managed not to get swam over. I started to settle down about 200 yards in to realize that the swells were quite rough (esp. compared to Cornerstone), and that I was working harder that I tought I should for my given speed. I wasn't at the front of the wave, but for once I wasn't last, so I stayed with it. Halfway through I was more fatigued than I should have been, or so I thought. It was then that I realized that I wasn't swimming very straight any more, and that everyone else seemed to be scattering about the bouys
. I decided to focus on
form and try sighting a bit more often. Worked great until I neared the exit, where we all were getting swept to the side of the exit ladder, making the
landing quite fun. The pro's after the race comment on the conditions as well. I tried to spot my time as I went into T1, but no luck. I had a goal of 30
minutes, which I though I blew given the amout of effort that I had to put into the last third to steer into the exit. Later I'd find out that my swim was
29:29.
T1 - as I got to my bike in transition, the HR monitor confirmed that I had been working hard - 185. Uh Oh
. I wanted to do well in this race, but this was supposed to be a strictly effort
controlled race for me to work on race pace discilpine. Had some trouble getting the wetsuit off, but everything else went well. Started running for the bike
out and noticed that my Garmin screen wasn't reading what I wanted it to, so I slowed a bit and tried to get it fixed as I was moving to mount the bike. No
dice
. So I cursed quitely and got on and started pedaling. As I straightened
out the gadget, I managed to pay enough attention to the course to notice the photographer pointing at me, so I took a moment to ham it up
. Gotta have fun, right?
Gadget fixed. Steady pace time. I focused in on my goal HR and cadence ( 160's, 95-100) and settled in for a quick ride. It was tough not chasing those that went by at first, but that became easier as I caught some of them in the second half. Only issue on the bike was the water / Gatorade station at the half way point. The volunteers were handing out the Gatorade like mad, but when I took off the cap at speed to dump it into the aero bottle, it still had the white seal on top of the bottle. I let out what I thought was a low growl and sunk in my teeth to break the seal. Apparently some of the volunteers heard me, and shouted an apology. I felt a bit bad about it later, but I hope that they started pulling off those seals for the 1000's of people after my age group. Other wise I stayed right on track, though I let up on the HR to 155 with about 4 miles to go. I still felt strong, but I realized that I trained on hills instead of flats, and my legs were looking for a downhill break. Lesson learned for the next flat course. Came into T2 feeling good, with a bike time of 1:12 and and avg HR of 161.
T2 went smooth, and off for the run. My legs felt great! It was still early enough that the heat wasn't an issue, so I settled into a comfortable pace of about 7:30's, and started working to my HR target of 175( yes it's high, but last time I checked in a race, my max was 212). I took water over the head and sipped a bit of Gatorade at the first couple of stations, but had to dive into the first port o potty, and lost 25-30 seconds. I quickly got back into a rhythm, and let myself enjoy the run for a change (I'm usually fatigued by this point). Still felt good out to mile 4, though I slowed down to about 8 min miles, and my belly said enough fluids. I kept my HR on target and just dumped water over the head, which on the return seemed to have ice in it, and it took my breath away twice. As I came up on mile 5 I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself, and picked it back up to 7:45 or so, and with a half mile to go kept getting quicker until I felt the burn. Rounded the corner back into the park, heard my wife scream that the finish was around the bend, and went for it. I think that this was the first time that I felt fast (instead of well done) at the finish, though it took a while to catch my breath. The time at the line was 2:36:xx, which was an improvement of 32 minutes on my previous OLY PR last year at Mooseman
. My cousin crossed in 2:39:xx, a great time for a first OLY! I'm estatic with the improvement, though it took a while to be happy -- I had
been hoping for 2:30. But with a bit a reflection and a kick in the rear end by my wife, I realized what a huge improvement it was, and now I've got a
great start for the season
. I'm hoping to have a similar improvement
with my HIM performance at Timberman this summer.
I did however spend the next few hours cheering on the other TNT racers, some of who I had seen on the run. They all had a great day as well, and afterward none had regretted their challenge. Most even spoke of doing it all over again! There was a large party for the TNT folks at a local establishment Sunday night, but my wife and I had to get back to CT by Monday
, so it was a quick
shower and off to the airport.
And thankfully today has been relatively pain free.
I had run into one of my cousins from St Pete last Labor Day, and the subject of Triathlon came up. It seems that he, too, had gotten bit by the Tri bug, as did his oldest boys. He mentioned St A's, and it sounded great, I'd head down and we'd do the race togeter. It was going to be his first OLY, and I thought it'd be fun to do it with him.. But then I looked into the cost to travel down, and it didn't look so good. Then, to my wife's shagrin, a Team in Training flyer showed up at my house advertising for St Anthony's. I jumed as fast and as hard as I could, and before my wife could say otherwise, I had TNT agreeing to trading my hotel cost for airfare for my wife. How could she say no?(we were going to stay with our cousins). The TNT program is great overall, and had benefits for people who have done a few races as well as newbies. The fundraising was a bear (St A's is the highest fundraising goal in CT), but in retrospect, could be better managed if I choose to do it again. The other TNT members all worked hard in training and fundraising, so the CT team of 12 headed down for the race.
Pre Race:
WOW. What a venue and race. Prior to this the largest race I had been to was Mooseman in New Hampsire. St A's this year had over 6000 registered and over 3500 individuals plus relays finishing. Quite well organized and run, great expo, and fast, flat course.
My wife and I had arrived Thursday evening, a day ahead of the TNT group. Friday afternoon my cousin and I swam the course, as the swim was his weak event. The water was pretty calm at that time despite some wind, and we both had gained some confidence for the race. Registration was a breeze, bike check in was great, and though I opted not to go, there was a few talks on race prep and all things Tri from pro's like Greg Bennet and Craig Alexander. Saturday I picked up my bike from transport, and I headed out with the TNT crowd for a tour of the run course for a final workout / check ride after transport. That night was the TNT appreciation dinner at the Vinoy Renassiance. The meal was great, and the guest speaker was Dave Scott, who chatted about 35 minutes and could have spoken more without being boring. He mainly spoke on topics geared for the majority of TNT participants, but his advice was good for vets as well.
The race:
Is it just me or does everyone get to transition late, and rush to make the swim warm up? I thought I had everything covered, but I would find out later that my Garmin wasn't set up the way that I wanted, nor had I applied sunscreen, though it was with me in transition. OOPS. As I got to the swim start, I noticed that the swells seemed to be a bit larger than Friday, but didn't seem too bad during warm up. I got to watch the pro men and women, then the elites take off before I got into the chute. This was going to be interesting for me, as this was my first running start and for once I was determined to start and stay with the crowd instead of meander along in the back. The gun - off and running. Not so bad I thought, I swam over one person and managed not to get swam over. I started to settle down about 200 yards in to realize that the swells were quite rough (esp. compared to Cornerstone), and that I was working harder that I tought I should for my given speed. I wasn't at the front of the wave, but for once I wasn't last, so I stayed with it. Halfway through I was more fatigued than I should have been, or so I thought. It was then that I realized that I wasn't swimming very straight any more, and that everyone else seemed to be scattering about the bouys
. I decided to focus on
form and try sighting a bit more often. Worked great until I neared the exit, where we all were getting swept to the side of the exit ladder, making the
landing quite fun. The pro's after the race comment on the conditions as well. I tried to spot my time as I went into T1, but no luck. I had a goal of 30
minutes, which I though I blew given the amout of effort that I had to put into the last third to steer into the exit. Later I'd find out that my swim was
29:29.
T1 - as I got to my bike in transition, the HR monitor confirmed that I had been working hard - 185. Uh Oh
. I wanted to do well in this race, but this was supposed to be a strictly effort
controlled race for me to work on race pace discilpine. Had some trouble getting the wetsuit off, but everything else went well. Started running for the bike
out and noticed that my Garmin screen wasn't reading what I wanted it to, so I slowed a bit and tried to get it fixed as I was moving to mount the bike. No
dice. So I cursed quitely and got on and started pedaling. As I straightened
out the gadget, I managed to pay enough attention to the course to notice the photographer pointing at me, so I took a moment to ham it up. Gotta have fun, right?
Gadget fixed. Steady pace time. I focused in on my goal HR and cadence ( 160's, 95-100) and settled in for a quick ride. It was tough not chasing those that went by at first, but that became easier as I caught some of them in the second half. Only issue on the bike was the water / Gatorade station at the half way point. The volunteers were handing out the Gatorade like mad, but when I took off the cap at speed to dump it into the aero bottle, it still had the white seal on top of the bottle. I let out what I thought was a low growl and sunk in my teeth to break the seal. Apparently some of the volunteers heard me, and shouted an apology. I felt a bit bad about it later, but I hope that they started pulling off those seals for the 1000's of people after my age group. Other wise I stayed right on track, though I let up on the HR to 155 with about 4 miles to go. I still felt strong, but I realized that I trained on hills instead of flats, and my legs were looking for a downhill break. Lesson learned for the next flat course. Came into T2 feeling good, with a bike time of 1:12 and and avg HR of 161.
T2 went smooth, and off for the run. My legs felt great! It was still early enough that the heat wasn't an issue, so I settled into a comfortable pace of about 7:30's, and started working to my HR target of 175( yes it's high, but last time I checked in a race, my max was 212). I took water over the head and sipped a bit of Gatorade at the first couple of stations, but had to dive into the first port o potty, and lost 25-30 seconds. I quickly got back into a rhythm, and let myself enjoy the run for a change (I'm usually fatigued by this point). Still felt good out to mile 4, though I slowed down to about 8 min miles, and my belly said enough fluids. I kept my HR on target and just dumped water over the head, which on the return seemed to have ice in it, and it took my breath away twice. As I came up on mile 5 I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself, and picked it back up to 7:45 or so, and with a half mile to go kept getting quicker until I felt the burn. Rounded the corner back into the park, heard my wife scream that the finish was around the bend, and went for it. I think that this was the first time that I felt fast (instead of well done) at the finish, though it took a while to catch my breath. The time at the line was 2:36:xx, which was an improvement of 32 minutes on my previous OLY PR last year at Mooseman
. My cousin crossed in 2:39:xx, a great time for a first OLY! I'm estatic with the improvement, though it took a while to be happy -- I had
been hoping for 2:30. But with a bit a reflection and a kick in the rear end by my wife, I realized what a huge improvement it was, and now I've got a
great start for the season. I'm hoping to have a similar improvement
with my HIM performance at Timberman this summer.
I did however spend the next few hours cheering on the other TNT racers, some of who I had seen on the run. They all had a great day as well, and afterward none had regretted their challenge. Most even spoke of doing it all over again! There was a large party for the TNT folks at a local establishment Sunday night, but my wife and I had to get back to CT by Monday
, so it was a quick
shower and off to the airport.
And thankfully today has been relatively pain free.
86/231 M30-34, 942/3546 overall 2:36:46 swim 29:29 T1 2:42 bike 1:12:42 T2 2:24 run 49:31
