And another race is in the books. This is my 4th race of the year and it is just barely May. I am pumped to be racing this early, but get frustrated when I'm not finishing like I want to. I have to keep reminding myself that I have experimented with some "off" distances and that it is still VERY early in the year.
I decided to make this a shorter trip so that I could stick to my usual routine for a little bit longer. A lot of the races that I've competed in this year has been a 5+ day trip. On Thursday, I got everything packed while getting in my normal workouts for the day. I drove to Corbin that evening and prepared to leave for Tampa first thing Friday morning. Friday was pretty uneventful. Just drove the 700+ miles down to St. Petersburg from Corbin and actually made really good time. I got to my homestay's house around 4pm and went out for a little shake out jog. I should mention that Jeff was an amazing homestay and I don't think I could have had a better place to stay. He provided me with everything that I needed, and was a great host. He only lived a few miles from the race site as well, so it made for very easy travel. He took me to the "Mad Dogs" (the St. Pete Tri Club) cookout Friday night and got to meet several other pros and local triathletes while enjoying some great food. I recognized a few guys, but the club asked all of the pros to stand and there were about 20 of us there, most of which I didn't recognize. I found out that a lot of these guys were from Europe, Australia, or New Zealand and were visiting the US for the first time.
After the cookout, Jeff took me to a chill, little bar in downtown St. Pete to try some of the local brews and listen to a little live music. We only hung out for about an hour as I had had a long day and was ready for bed. Saturday morning I slept in, went for a little bike ride with Jeff, grabbed a snack and went over to the swim course to get in an open water swim. A few years ago I swam in the Gulf as that was where my hotel was and it was as smooth as glass when the Bay was rough and choppy. I figured I better swim the actual swim course this time to get used to the chop and rough conditions. The swim was good, then went back to shower at the house, and made it back just in time for the Pro meeting at the Pier. This is, BY FAR, my favorite pro meeting as they provide us with plenty of great food. Philip LaHaye does an amazing job with the race and treats every pro like they are the returning champ. He really emphasized to make sure that no one was drafting and that the swim course may change due to the predicted wind directions/speed. He had a "Plan B" which most races do not plan for and had everything ready to roll on race morning as the wind was as expected and he had to go to plan B. After the meeting I just went back to the house and hung out before we dropped off Jeff's bike in transitions and found a good place to eat. After stopping at the grocery on the way home, I was lounging on the couch watching the Penn Relays and enjoying just doing nothing by 8pm.
Race morning rolled around which meant a very early wake up call. I drove just down the road to get some McDonald's coffee (as was my only close option) and then came back to the house to get everything ready. At 5:15, I left the house and rode my bike down to the race as it was only 4 or 5 miles. I got everything set up, and was ready to race. They did move the swim to "Plan B" and it is only a 1000 meter swim but it was still a swim. Most races either cancel the swim or make it a duathlon so I wasn't displeased with the decision. Around 7 am, the gun went off and we sprinted into the water. It was a long run on the beach at the start as I'm used to starting very close to the water line and this was roughly 60 - 80 meters until we hit the water. I took the outside as it was only 100 meters or so to the turn buoy which made for a crazy turn since we all hit it at the same time. I learned my lesson from Clermont and went a little wide this time. I only got dunked twice in that first minute or so. I found some feet and swam. We made the final turn and I lost those feet. We had a 150 degree turn to the next buoy and I turned to go to that swim buoy. Everyone else made a 90 degree turn and swam straight to the beach as it was closer. I took a breath to the left and saw guys running down the beach as I was still swimming. I immediately turned and swam straight to shore and then ran the rest of the way down the beach to the "swim exit." I lost a little time during that last 2 - 3 minutes of the swim course by not sticking with the group and going straight over to the beach. We had a long run to T1 and I was out on my bike.
This was my first race on my new Planet X w/ a Quarq Powermeter so I was able to see what kind of power I was putting out during this race but was definitely not letting it restrict me as I needed to catch guys up the road. Before the 5 mile mark, I caught a pack or 4-5 guys and passed them. I caught another guy around mile 10 and the rest of the way was lonely riding. I never really pulled away from the pack so I saw 1 - 2 of those guys towards the end of the ride and we went into T2 together. I had a good transition and was off and running. Two guys ran by me before the 1st mile mark so I thought I was running slow until I saw a 5:15 for my first mile. I tried to maintain this pace as best as possible. I managed to settle into pace and clicked off a few 5:30 miles for the next couple of miles. I got to the turn around point just over 17 minutes and there were a couple of guys that hit the turn around right before me so I was chasing a few guys down. The last 3 miles were pretty uneventful as I did manage to catch a few guys and held 5:30 pace until the finish line. I ran just over 34 minutes which was a PR for me off of the bike. I had no idea where I finished but I knew I wasn't close to the top 10. I cooled down, grabbed some food, got a massage, talked with a bunch of buddies that I haven't seen in a while, and then got my bike. My homestay finished right as I finished all of these things so I talked with him for a few minutes before riding back to the house and packing up the car to hit the road.
It's amazing how less sore you are when you race for less than 1/2 of my usual distance and when you actually cool down after a race. I was pleased with my effort as I got some good numbers from my Quarq about my bike split, and ran a solid 10k off the bike. I need to fight more in the first few 100 yards of the swim but 70.3 swims are nothing like these ITU style swims where everyone is capable of swimming a fast 1.5k.
Thanks again to Jeff for a spectacular homestay and to Philip for putting on a great race. I may just have to go back next year.
Next up: Rev 3 Knoxville - May 15th.
Tony
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