Sand Key sprint...let's try this again...

Ok...I'm going to try to re-edit...again...under a new thread...

I placed third in my age group (35-39) with a 1:08:45 time. I was pretty happy with that. The top two in my age group finished ahead of the #2 "elite" competitor, so you won't hear any complaints from me about my placing!

Congrats to Mike...who completed his first tri! Yay you!

I'm doing Long Leaf's Olympic tri October 19.

mbbrad4d wrote:Ok...I'm going to try to re-edit...again...under a new thread...

I placed third in my age group (35-39) with a 1:08:45 time. I was pretty happy with that. The top two in my age group finished ahead of the #2 "elite" competitor, so you won't hear any complaints from me about my placing!

Congrats to Mike...who completed his first tri! Yay you!

I'm doing Long Leaf's Olympic tri October 19.

Wow!!! Rockstar Beth!!!

No...not rock star...

Remember I still ride an aluminum road bike (although I love it). I felt so humbled by the beautiful tri-bikes that cost more than my first car.

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes here, and over the email! My wife told me last night that on our 2nd date I told her I wanted to do a triathlon and how impressed that she was that I had that as a goal. Of course I may have been trying to..well....you know. But, that was 7 years ago. So, yesterday I did it (sort of), and I can only say that my experience was everything I thought it would be..and then some. I think I'm the only one of us that hadn't competed yet (excluding the real new newbies), and so everyone has been very encouraging, positive, motivating, and (most important of all) fun! Thank you group!!!!!

So, my race went well. I felt great during the swim...very relaxed. I only kicked two girls and didn't try to climb into a kayak once. I kept saying to myself in my head "you've trained for this....it's easy!!!!". Unfortunately, while everyone enjoyed at 600M swim, I chose to swim about 50 yards further out into the Gulf. The kayakers were constantly shusshing me back into the course. So that cost me a few minutes. The transition to bike was about 1/5th of a mile across the beach to the parking lot which cost me some time on my bad foot but the trainsition itself was great.

The bike felt great all around. I had my jell and drained a bottle (just like coach told me to) and really went strong. Going into the run I'm sure I had more to give on the course. I guess exprience will guide me as to how much to reserve, but I had plenty. Which did me no good because my heel is still hurting. So, all of those people that I passed on the bike, went trotting on by during the run. Including a 70 year old woman with a leg brace that went from her ankle to her hip. So, needless to say I did run some!!!! My ego can only take so much. I was 24th in my group at the start of the run, and 51st at the end. When I saw Dr. Donna yesterday at the end I was so dejected because the clock said I had finished in 1:53. Could you tell Doc?? I couldn't believe that time! Surely my swim and bike weren't that bad!! But I forgot that that is the over all time from the first wave, and I was last to go. So, 1:37:33 is where I ended up. 7:33 off my goal. I can't wait for Cypress Gardens!!!!! Here's to a healthy foot...

Things that I feel good about:
- my preparation: I had everything a triathelete needed (except for the swim cap which I didn't know was required). That is because of this group and Coach Becca.
- Swim: felt great, strong and relaxed
- Bike: my best sport. No problems here whatsoever. Again, I may have left some out on the road.
- me: I was very relaxed and suprisingly not nervous to start. Again, all attributable to the group...

Things to improve on:
- Health: nuff said
- Swim course management
- Level of exertion from sport to sport. Experience should guide me here

Also, thanks to Rock Star Beth who hung out with me before the race and helped me get set to go!

Oh..my line:
Time Rank Swim Tran 1 Rank Bike Tran 2 Rank Run
1:37:33 33 13:55 5:03 24 37:00 2:10 51 39:27 (dammit)

Congrats Mike, not too shabby, especially going on a bad wheel. But that experience will serve you well. See you at Cypress Gardens!

Great job guys! I looked for you before and after the race but didn't see you all. I did, however, hear Beth's name announced! Way to go! I can't wait until we have our t-shirts and other stuff with logos to really represent the club.

I had a good race. It was my third triathlon, but it was far more competitive than my other races. I was happy with my times for this one and had so much fun! I am working on some faster goals for the next one.