100 Triathlons
Go to the early blogs to read how I got into triathlons. Click on any picture to enlarge it. "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood...who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly." Theodore Roosevelt 1910


Sunday, March 10, 2024

# 205 Great Clermont Triathlon

Great time at the first Sommer Sports race of the year, The Great Clermont Triathlon. With my shoulder problem (plus the water was cold!), I switched to the Sprint Duathlon instead; 1 mile run, 9-mile hilly bike, and then a 3-mile run. Woke up at 3:15 AM with the time change and thought I could sleep a little more, then realized my alarm was set at 3:30. Got to the park at 5:00 with light rain and wind and prepared for the 7:45 sunrise start. Even though it was 70’f, the wind off the lake was chilling and I wore a shell for the first run. Felt warmer getting on the bike and had a great ride averaging 16.2mph with the hills/wind. 5k run was fast but still cool and I finished 10th out of 27 with a 1:18:06; at 71, I was the oldest by far. My friend Ricardo MiroFlecha was coaching some young people and got some photos of me on the bike. Sommer Sports had the Sprint races go first followed by the Olympic an hour later which really kept the course open; two transition areas worked well too.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

The Moultoneer article; Winter 2024

Well, I hit the big time; made the cover of The Moultoneer with my story of the Steve Hed New Series. Here's the article; hope you enjoy it.

Real Florida 5k10k in Wekiwa Springs State Park

37th Annual Real Florida 5k10k this morning; I did the 10k and also set up the HAMMER NUTRITION table. Several friends were there as sponsors and other friends raced. Oddly enough, the 10k was very tough as my training has been off but I really enjoyed the race, ending up 2/4 in 70+ and 58/94 overall. Cool start (55'f) under the full moon but the sun warmed it quickly.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

# 204 Super Bowl Duathlon in Clermont

First race of 2024, Super Bowl Duathlon in Clermont (#204). 2-mile run to start, then a 12-mile, hilly, windy bike, concluding with a 2-mile run. This low-key event (no awards) started in 2014 (by Kevin Grogan, in photo) on Super Bowl Sunday but now has grown bigger so Sommer Sports is running it. I took off at the mass start and had to force myself to slow down as I was feeling it at mile 1; 19:24 time. Jumping on the bike, it took me two miles to find my legs but gradually picked up speed and began passing people. Two loop bike course had a lot of rolling hills and the wind was really blowing on the second loop; 15.9 mph average with a 25.1 max. Second run was hotter than the first as full sun now covered the course. I picked up speed on the second mile (19:15) and crossed the line with a 1:24:18. At 71, I was the oldest competitor and finished 51st overall out of 74. Very happy with the results. Checked out Lake Louisa at the end.

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

2024 Hammer Legacy Athlete !

The week before Christmas I was notified I had been chosen to be a 2024 Hammer Legacy Athlete! After using Hammer products since 1995, I joined Hammer as a Sponsored Athlete in 2010 and then a Brand Ambassador in the following years, I was elevated to the ranks of Hammer Legacy Athlete. This is the capper to my 200th Triathlon year of 2023 and I'm very happy to be selected.

Monday, November 6, 2023

# 203 Riverfront Triathlon in Cocoa

Today was my longest triathlon (#203) of the year, The Riverfront Tri in Cocoa (Florida). An International/Olympic distance race with a .5-mile saltwater swim in the Indian River, 26-mile bike along the river road, followed by a 6.2-mile run. I’ve done this race in 2019, 2021, and 2022 and it’s a great finisher for the season (plus I won all three). Cocoa is an hour away from our home in Orlando, necessitating getting up at 3:00 AM to be there for the 5:30 registration. With a 6:45 start, just after sunrise, there wasn’t the usual waiting time before the race. Water temp was 72’f so I bowed to the inevitable and put on my wetsuit. At this race, you jump off the dock in pairs and begin your swim. Sounds odd but goes very quickly. The water was an initial shock but with the early morning air temp of 61’ it felt fine. My swim time was 18:21, a bit faster than last year. I was in second on the swim but moving to the bike, Jerry Mandello caught me at mile 2 and it was evident that he was pulling away. I settled down to enjoy the race and fight the headwind on the first northerly loop. The river road is amazingly hilly with over 700’ of climbing in the two loops. Rounding the first point, the tailwind pushed my average speed to 16.4 mph. Starting on the second 6.5-mile loop, the headwind had increased but I had warmed to the effort and was powering through it. Hitting the last turn was great as my average jumped to 16.7 with a stiff tailwind resulting in a max of 25.3. Rolling into transition, my stomach was acting up, so I hit the bathroom, losing 3 minutes. Beginning my run, I was stopped by a hamstring cramp and spent two minutes working it out. After a big swallow of Hammer Heed, the pain faded and didn’t bother me again for the next 5.5 miles. I crossed the line at 3:03.28, my run being about 10 minutes off. Bobby Dickerson won with an astonishing 2:32:13 (28th OA) in his first race in two years. I was Third behind Jerry but quite happy to have overcome the few setbacks.

Sunday, October 22, 2023

# 202 Great Floridian Sprint in Clermont

My 202nd triathlon was on Saturday, the Great Floridan Sprint in Clermont. With the full iron-distance starting at 7:30 (dawn) and the ½ iron-distance at 8:30, it’s a bit of a wait to start at 9:30. Everything went well on the swim, bike, and run despite two errors. I re-adjusted the front wheel quick release in transition and when I pulled the bike out, the front wheel was rubbing so I stopped and redid it. Then at the run start, I’d just caught 4th place in transition and left my small bottle of Hammer Heed behind. It stops the cramping problem I’ve had running at other races so my run was a bit cautious. I ended up in 4th out of 7 in M70-74, only 20 seconds behind 3rd. My friends did great: Hammer athlete Gabrielle Suver won the full-aquabike Overall at 6:36:18, Dawn Lane won F60-64 with a time of 17:51:44 in the full iron-distance, and Teresa Tinsley won F60-64 in the half with a 7:02.17. I did the half there in 2013 (2nd) and the 1/3 four times (2014, 2016-2018, 2019 got rained out); I hope to finish 2023 with the Riverfront Triathlon (Olympic-distance) in Cocoa in two weeks.