2002 Tri-America Series Race Report
It is long. If anyone reads, enjoy!!
Tri America Series Finale – Orlando, FL
Olympic Distance Triathlon:
SWIM - 1.5K (.92m), 28.07, 1.52/100
T1 - 2.30
BIKE - 40K (24.8m), 1.10.05, 21.23 mph
T2 - .51
RUN - 10K (10.2m), 44.27, 7.10/mile
If I am going to do my first race report, I’ve got to start with the day before…
Saturday, I travel to Orlando from Tampa. Whew, it is hot!! Get to Disney, and park, and take the 50 MINUTE ferry to the Contemporary Hotel. The walk from the ferry to the hotel is about ½ mile. Seems a little long. Yuck! Better figure this into tomorrow AM.
Get to Aunt Elaine and Uncle Chris’s house, eat pasta and baked chicken (Mom, it wasn’t dry.), and then watched the most bizarre movie “the Lion in Winter.” But at least it took my mind off the race. So it ended up being a good thing.
RACE MORNING:
Woke up, or Uncle Chris woke me up, a t 4AM. I love triathlon. I DO NOT love waking up at 4AM. But did, and had the standard race day, good luck breakfast, 3 egg whites and a bagel with grape jelly. Set off to go to the Magic Kingdom. On the road by 4:35AM.
Get to Disney, off the trolly (Man there are lots of people up at 5AM!), and as we get off, Mickey and some Disney employees are singing songs to us with the lights on at the train just up above. Very cool, but I’m worried that I’ll be singing, “It’s A Small World After All” throughout the bike. The walk wasn’t as bad this time b/c it was nighttime = much cooler.
Set up bike, get body marked. I was in rack 1121 to 1129. If I was number 1120, I’d be at the end of the race. Oh well, you snooze you lose. Saw the one-armed lady again. Man is she awesome. (Later she would correct me and say that she had “Ovaries of steel.” Man, is that great!)
Check out swim area (God, that looks longer than a mile!!), and get out the pre-race jitters, drink my h2o and Gatorade, and sit and relax by the pool while the waves start going out. I didn’t need to watch the others come in, especially the elites. The first in swam 1.5K in 17 minutes. Holy crap!!!
My wave comes up, blue caps, 25-29 and relays. How did that guy swim in 17 minutes? START!! Go out, and I need to start REALLY SLOWLY. I have a tendency to start too fast in the water, and forced myself to go almost too slow. I worked. On the way out, I think it is time to turn right…oops, wrong buoy…got to go straight for another 100. Got kicked by a breast stroking swimmer. Ouch, right where it counts. If you are going to breast stroke it, not a problem, just swim towards the outside.
Finally make it in, and I’m feeling okay, not great, but not as bad as I thought I might. And right at 28min, right on goal!! On to Transition 1.
Where is my helmet? The guy next to me must have thrown it down. Jerk. And his stupid balloon is in my way. I’ll pass him on the bike.
Head out and basically, the first mile is a no pass zone, and there are still people passing. Why? No pass means no pass. But it served a good purpose, I was able to get my bearings straight after that swim, and calm down, until…
My HammerGel flask falls off my Velcro bike piece. This isn’t good and not part of the plan. And it has never happened in training. All my long rides have been with HG. DAMN. Get out of no pass zone, and start hitting it, but I now have to be little bit more conservative without the HammerGel. After about 5 miles of being angry over this, I begin to focus, and ride smoothly.
On the bike I see: a hawk, a TNO’er, lots of Team In Training, a HUGE pack of 30-39-ers fly by on the bike, a lady biking with her knees outside of the handlebars (“Put your knees close to the bike.” “Why?” “Because it will help you…a lot.” “How?” “It just will.”), went down a hill screaming at 37mph. I’ve never gone over 25 mph on anything with less than 4 wheels, so this was a new experience. I kind of liked it. Played tag with Lance Armstrong (he had a yellow jersey on).
Came back into the ‘no pass zone’ (still people passing), and focused on easy breathing, relaxing, getting that heart rate down a bit, and preparing for the run. Once out of the no pass zone, I fly by all those who were passing illegally, wanting to say “this is where you pass people!!” Hear my Mom call me “go speedy” (yes, Donna and Maria, she did say that.) and my wife and Dad yell out my name.
Come in on the bike in 1h10 minutes, again, right on goal. Feeling no effect yet of the HG loss in the beginning of the bike.
Into T2 feeling great, shoes on, hat on, and head out to the run in hell…
The run was basically in the parking lot, they couldn’t go out on the golf courses b/c it was too muddy. So the planners (CFT Sommer Sports) did the best they could. The parking lot was hot, flat and boring. All these things catered to my strengths, and I was very confident that I could post some good times here…
Just before 2 miles, I see the 1-armed lady, she is walking to a bench. “You okay?” “Yeah.” “sure?” “yes” Damn, I don’t want to see her not finish.
In the main parking lot, the DJ was playing great running music (try running to “Whip It.”) After about 2.5 miles, he yells out on the loud speaker (the whole lot could hear him.) “How’s everyone feeling? Feeling good?” a few woo-hoo’s., I yelled out, “honestly, I feel like @!#$.” One person, a spectator, laughed. Well, two...I laughed. I needed it.
After about 3.5 miles, heat was setting in, but not as bad as I thought. I felt strong and smooth, but a teeny bit of tightness in the calves and core muscles. This is why I didn't accelerate like I had planned. At about 4.5 miles I think I started feeling the effects of no HammerGel. But maybe it was mental. Started passing lots of people, especially in my age group. That felt nice. Only about 7-10 people total passed me on the run, they were all older than me. I wanted to go with them, but I just didn’t think I’d be able to finish at the pace they were going at. That’s okay though.
Come through finish line at 2.26 even, one minute short of my goal. But I am really pleased with the race. It was hot, run was boring. So I can’t be displeased with my time, in fact I am thrilled. A PR in Oly Distance by OVER 20 MINUTES!!!
Finished: 19/84 in AG, 150/814 males, 174 Overall. Next time, it will be higher.
Thanks to: the other Mike P., Aunt Elaine + Uncle Chris, Mom + Dad, and of course to the wife, Bessie. Without you all, I wouldn’t have been able to do it!!
Swim:
AG - 41/84
M - 359/814
Bike:
AG - 35/84
M - 286/814
Run:
AG - 18/84
M - 76/814
Finish:
AG - 19/84
M - 150/814
OA - 174
posted by Mike @ Sunday, September 29, 2002
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