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, May 30, 2010

# 96 Tri-Y Ormond Beach Sprint Tri

Sunrise across US Route A1A.

This triathlon is now in it's seventh year and I always found it on the calendar too late to enter until this year. Ormond Beach is on the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Daytona Beach. When I arrived at 5:40 AM the wind was blowing a steady 15 mph from the south. The transition area was located right at the corner of US Route A1A and Granada St, directly across from the beach. I think the wind picked up bit at sunrise and the waves looked about 5-6' at the start. The Race Director announced 5 minutes before the gun that you could compete in a duathlon because of the rough conditions. As this is a small race, 200+ people, there were 2 waves, men and women. The swim headed north with the tidal current after the first buoy but the waves were horrendous and as everyone was getting tossed around, it was difficult to get any sort of rhythm going. Finally I came ashore and took off on the bike. I passed the second place rider at mile 4 on a downwind sprint and entered T2 about 40 seconds ahead of him, averaging 21.8 mph. However, he could really run, passing me at mile 1 and kept accelerating, passing the guy in 1st at mile 2 and never looking back. I had a great run (7:54 mile splits) and was closing on 2nd place when the race ended. I was quite happy with my 3rd out of 6th finish. The capper was winning a $25 gift certificate for Stonewood Grill at the post race party!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

# 95 Baldwin Park Sprint Triathlon

Today I discovered the new way to win a triathlon; smash the 2 small toes on your right foot the evening before the race.
The previous week we spent in heaven on Captiva Island, Florida, at our timeshare condo on the Gulf beach. I used the "rest" week to kick up my training and posted 3 long bike rides and 3 long runs. We had a garage sale on Saturday so by Sunday I was well acclimated to the 90' heat too. Saturday evening however, rushing through the garage barefoot, I "found" the 4''x4" we use as a car curbstop with my right foot. After several well chosen words, I limped off to dinner. Tylenol and ice eased the pain/swelling so off I went to the race early Sunday morning. (Nice color purple though!)
Baldwin Park is an upscale "new urban" community created with the closing of the Orlando Navy Base several years ago. The entire race is conducted inside the community with the swim in Lake Baldwin (site of the Navy's Sonar Research Lab), an unusual 5 lap bike course of 13.4 miles total, followed by a 4.5K around Lake Baldwin. All my spring swim training paid off with a great swim, getting me a 2nd in the swim (I'm usually last). I had one of my fastest bike rides ever, averaging 22.1 mph on the flat course. The 5 laps result in lots of passing and yelling "on your left!". The run around Lake Baldwin was fabulous as I warmed up within the first 500 meters and then really took off. I "felt" my foot the whole race but it never bothered me and I picked up a 29 year old guy with 1 mile to go who stayed with me to the finish. My final time was 1:15:09, good for 1st out of the 5 guys in my age group.