SubscribeOn May 15th, 2011, I ran my second sprint triathlon! Technically the first probably, since the Conchman wasn’t the official Sprint Distance lengths. Myself and Sarah headed over to Florida on Friday, stayed with my cousin Tina and family for the night, and headed down to Miami to stay with my friend Ian for the weekend. Many thanks to our hosts!
Let’s begin with the training. I didn’t have any training plan for this one, just made sure to do some running and swimming, and a couple (literally, 2) bikes in the weeks before the event. Had Mike and Grant around to do some open water swims with and the runs I kept short, averaging around 3 miles. Throw in a handful of P90X and some weekend sailing events and you have my training style! Below is a chart of my weeks before the event, the sports consisting of sailing and p90x mostly.
Let’s move on to race day equipment. I stripped my bike in Nassau of the handlebars and seat, and rented a bike in Miami. The bike was supposed to be a Jamis Ventura which would be an aluminum version of my bike. This was double booked so I was upgraded to a nicer bike, the Jamis Xenith I believe. Great! Except it wouldn’t fit my aerobars due to the geometry of the headset. So now I only have the seat as something familiar. Overall the bike performed very well, I just would have liked to have had the aerobars for the race. So basically I’m on a road bike with standard cage pedals (I haven’t tried the clipless…yet!). My running shoes were my standard New Balance’s I’ve been training in. However, upon arriving in Miami and the evening before I realised I had left them in Palm Beach! I found a New Balance store not far away and went to head out, knowing I still wouldn’t have my orthotics. As we walked out the door, I turned and saw another bag I had packed with my shoes in it. Tiny disaster averted! It seems I have taken a liking to Pearl Izumi’s fit and price, as I know have top and bottoms from them (and now clipless shoes and a running hat…more later!). No ipods or fandangled electronics, but I borrowed Sarah’s baby-g dolphin watch for the timing as my useless timex ironman watch was on the fritz again!
Race day breakfast consisted of fresh squeezed Florida OJ (thanks Ian!), three mini cliff bars, and a banana. I had purchased a few gels, Sarah stuck one in my tri-top, and I unknowingly left the rest on the coffee table. I purchased a 6-pack of water bottles with nozzles and stuck one on the bike, one in my transition bag, carried one, and left one with Sarah. Seemed to work out well overall.
We headed down to the event around 5:30am and had no problems, even saw several people headed down US-1 with tri-bikes etc. We got to the site while it was just starting to get light and got numbered up and headed to transition. I managed to get a 2 min bike session in (luckily didn’t need resizing, it seemed to be about right) before heading out of the area to the swim start. I decided a restroom pitstop was a good idea, so did about half of the other entrants, and a 20 minute wait ensued. Well worth the wait. Made it to the swim start with time to spare, so I did a few back and forths in the water and warmed up a bit.
As our wave start approached (mens under 35 I think), we lined up with our red caps. Figuring people would be fast in this section, I was in the second row a bit off to the right. Turned out I was wrong, and I got caught up in the start, basically being drafted along in the group. As we rounded the first of the bouys, I headed for the outside and gunned it. I seemed to be on the outside, because I passed a bunch of people and soon was in the orange headed (wave before) racers, and took out a towline from a surfboard volunteer. As the end of the 400m swim neared, I headed in getting great surf on the waves and speedily passing by some more red and orange caps. As I popped out of the water and headed to transition, I definitely did not realize I was second in my age group and 13th fastest overall in the swim (out of 415). Not too bad!
The transition to the bike was a long run down the beach and into the parking lot. This took almost as much time as the swim itself! I passed a few exhausted people probably from the Olympic race which started about a half hour before. I also got passed by several in my race I’m assuming. Transition went smoothly, shoes on (no socks this time, but still just my running shoes) helmet, sunglasses, and for some reason I decided on gloves, which no one else did. Oh well. Mount went well and I was off.
As usual, being one of the first swimmers out the bikes we’re zinging by me. Now I know the noise from the wheel covers as they zipp on by! I took my gel about 5 minutes into the bike after I settled in, and followed with a bunch of water. The bike was nice at first! The wind wasn’t too prevalent and almost a cross-tail wind. I didn’t even notice the first slight causeway. The Rickenbacker Causeway bridge was a nightmare! I was definitely under-prepared for this one. I got passed more than I passed here, however on the downhill side I managed to pass a few people and maintain control of the bike! Surprise! Turn around at the base and do it again. Damn you race course planners, damn you! The headwind for the ride back was awesome as well, thank you weather gods!
Transition went smoothly to the run. I dismounted and didn’t wipe out, Sarah mentioned several people before and after me had. I noticed her this time, filming and cheering (really? I think she was getting into it at this point! Could have been the 3 cups of coffee however!). After mounting the bike and losing the helmet and gloves, I went to run out and noticed a glove on the ground. So of course I stopped, picked it up, wondered if it was mine, carried it back, saw I already had mine, so I took it back and placed it where I found it. Really? Hmmm, who knows. 30 seconds I can make up there! Off to the run without much of a hitch.
The run was nice, along the Atlantic side, mainly asphalt and some sidewalk. Not many spectators here as it was still early around 9am. Very windy and following the crowd and signs was a must, one lady almost took off straight if it wasnt for some other racers. I managed to hold what I felt to be a comfortable pace, turned out to be around 8:49 min/mile. I started to get a blister towards the end, because I have never ran without socks. I really meant to train without them, whoops. Not bad though. As I rounded to the finish I saw Sarah and the red carpet, remembered to throw my hands in the air like a proud tri-ath-a-lete, and crossed the line. Instant unofficial results print out was a nice feature. I found some water and a few minutes later Sarah and it was all over.
Overall, this was never an “A” race and I used it to get more race experience and in particular triathlon experience. This being my second tri, having a thousand athletes around and in transition was quite an experience! It was a well organized, laid out, staffed and supplied event thanks to Multirace. The results were available quickly, along with the details, and they are posted below. The next race is the Pineapple-A-Thon in Eleuthera on June 4th followed by the FKCC Swim Around Key West relay with my cousins Brian and Sage on June 18th. Many thanks to those who have supported me along the way and those that have trained, advised, and raced with me! I am definitely looking forward to an active year!
Total Time: 01:27:03.54
Swim Time: 6:28
T1 Time: 4:59
Bike Time: 46:43
T2 Time: 1:34
Run Time: 27:20
Overall Place: 201 out of 415
Overall Percentile: 52
Gender Place: 174 out of 291
Gender Percentile: 40
Category Place: 20 out of 29
Category Percentile: 32
Series Points Earned: 103.8693
Swim Details:
Time: 6:28
Pace: 25:52
Overall Place: 13
Percentile: 97
Gender Place: 12
Gender Percentile: 96
Category Place: 2
Category Percentile: 96
Transition 1 Details:
Time: 4:59
Overall Place: 245
Percentile: 41
Gender Place: 189
Gender Percentile: 35
Category Place: 22
Category Percentile: 25
Bike Details:
Time: 46:43
Speed: 15.92579
Overall Place: 262
Percentile: 37
Gender Place: 218
Gender Percentile: 25
Category Place: 24
Category Percentile: 18
Transition 2 Details:
Time: 1:34
Overall Place: 196
Percentile: 53
Gender Place: 149
Gender Percentile: 49
Category Place: 19
Category Percentile: 36
Run Details:
Time: 27:20
Pace: 8:49
Overall Place: 194
Percentile: 53
Gender Place: 159
Gender Percentile: 46
Category Place: 19
Category Percentile: 36
