Post St. Anthony's Review

What can I say, the weekend was awesome!  Made some great new friends, raced for a cause, and spent some time with awesome friends who came to visit from DC and Orlando.  Thank you all for making my weekend a special weekend.

A little constructive self-criticism.  I want to take some time to deconstruct the race, and talk about how I did.  I'm happy that I finished the race, you'll see why later.  I am a bit bummed, however, about my run.  The stats:

Placed 1295 overall out of 3193 triathletes
Placed 24th out of 69 TNT Men
Placed 1008th out of 2088 Men

1000m Swim - 18:05 - Rate of 1:40/m
T1 - 2:40
40k Bike - 1:13:24 - Rate of 20.3mph
T2 - 1:54
10k Run - 1:13:23 - Rate of 11:51/mile
Overall time - 2:49:25

Swim
Unfortunately, half way through the swim waves, the ocean became too rough to safely swim in, so the race organizers changes the course to be 1000 meters.  I must say, swimming in a pool doesn't compare to swimming open water in the ocean AT ALL!  The TNT coaches tried there best to prepare us for the ocean, and for that I am thankful.  The challenging parts for me, that I tried to work on the two days before the race was pace and sighting.  I didn't practice enough how to fit sighting into my swim rhythm.  For me, sighting expended too much energy, which ended up making me very tired.  I think I finally got the hang of it come race day.  Overall, I'm content with how I performed.  Things I need to work on is sighting and efficient swim strokes in open water.

T1
Not bad, but not great.  Once I got out of the water, I started to jog back to my bike, but the bike was so far away, and I was still trying to get my footing, so I ended up walking some.  Earlier that morning, I prepped my transition area with my bike shoes, rolled up socks in my shoes, race belt, and my sun glasses in my helmet on my bike.  First thing I did was put my race belt on and flip it around backwards.  Put my socks on, then my shoes, which I didn't even bother buckling the entire ride.  I then put my helmet on, clipped the helmet, and started running my bike out.  Once I got on the road, I put my sunglasses on.  Things I need to work on is being able to run from the swim to the bike rather than walk.  Also, have my cleats already clipped in, and not have to put socks on.

Bike
The bike ride was tough.  Head winds for most of the course made for a challenging ride, but the entire course was flat which was nice.  I cruised at an average speed of 20.3 mph, which is on the upper end of my performance.  I think I did 20.8 at my last mini tri, so to maintain a 20.3 for a 26 mile bike ride I was happy about.  Towards the end of the ride, I was cruising at 26 mph, if I can only maintain that speed like the pros, I would be set :).  I came in a bit too hot to the dismount line.  I got my feet out of my shoes before getting to the line, when I got off the bike and put my feet down to the brick ground, I started sliding because the brick had no traction, and I was going too fast.  I ended up crashing into two bikers dismounting at the line.  Luckily, the crash was minor.  No one was hurt, no one went down, they stopped me before I crossed the line, and I didn't get penalized.  Overall, I think I performed well on the bike.  I need to work on building strength into my legs, and consider a TT/Tri bike purchase with the proper fit.  My back was beginning to bother me towards the end of the ride.

T2
A good T2 time.  When I set up my transition area the day before, the bike was mounted by its seat with the front wheel down to the ground.  When I entered T2 to mount my bike in transition, the quickest thing for me to do was mount the bike my its brakes with the backwheel down.  This saved some time.  My bike shoes were already off and still clipped to my bike.  All I had to do was get my helmet off, put my visor on, and my running shoes, and off I was.

Run
The run was tough.  Not sure if I over did it on the bike, or if I wasn't hydrated, but my legs were just gone.  I jogged the first 2-3 miles, but at the U-turn, my right quad cramped in two places.  I tried to stretch the quad out, but then my hamstring cramped.  When I tried to stretch my hamstring out, my quad cramped again.  I seriously thought it was over then, but I managed to walk it off, and had to run/walk for about 2 miles, then ran the last mile, and sprinted in for the finish.  I know I need help in this area for sure.  I want to record my run, and see how to fix it.

The Bike is my strength.  The swim and run need work, just need to figure out how to get there.

Thank you everyone! For your words of encouragement, for your generosity, and support. 

Go Team!

ps. keep following the blog, I'm training for a September half ironman.