# 126 Orlando Triathlon at Baldwin Park

First triathlon of 2014 and first races are always interesting.  You see what training needs were met or ignored in the off season and see what you forgot in your transition bag in the closet all winter.  Today was the 10th Annual Orlando Triathlon at Baldwin Park.  I'm happy to say I have done them all.  I saw several old friends, Arnie Einhorn, Bill Floyd, and Bob Weller and made some new ones, Nurse Kim and her friend Christine.  A late spring cool spell resulted in air temps in the low 60s at dawn with Lake Baldwin being 75 degrees.  The organizers decided to have a water start this year rather than the race through the shoreline weeds. 

All males started first and I had a good swim, a great bike, averaging 19.7 mph, and a fair run for a 1:14:14 finishing time.  It was actually pleasant on the run in the cool air.  I almost caught Bill Floyd at the finish, leading his age group, but crossed the line behind to win my own.  Bob was second and Arnie third.  Another great day!

Swamphouse Half-Marathon in Debary

I hadn't really planned on doing this race today.  After my PR (Personal Record) at the Celebration Marathon in January and another PR at the Real Florida 10K trail race last weekend, I felt my running races for 2014 were done.  However, my co-worker Rhonda Curran's daughter Ashlee had a medical condition cause her to DNF at the Orlando Extreme Half-Marathon 3 weeks earlier and she had already signed up for this race.  I asked Rhonda and Ashlee if I could run the race for Ashlee and they agreed.  My friend Jennifer Florida at FinalMile graciously transferred the entry at no charge so I was entered.

As my last PR (1:54:52) for a half marathon occured at the OUC in downtown Orlando in 2005, I wasn't sure if I was up to the task of another PR.  I have done 7 half-marathons since 2004, not counting half Ironman triathlons.  While my mile splits for last weekend's trail 10K were 8:36, that would have to be my mile time for 13.1 miles today to achieve my goal .  My Celebration Marathons splits were 10:17, fine over 26.2 miles.  Needless to say, I was wondering if this was doable, especially since I was now 60 years old.  I also felt I'd let Ashlee down if I didn't try as hard as I could.

Pacer Eve Barrett and me

Race morning was cool and clear and FinalMile's organization was great.  We started a few minutes after 7:15 while waiting for the last shuttle bus then off we went into the sunrise.  I saw a run pacer with pink hair carring a 1:55 sign and figured if I stuck to her I'd be fine.  The miles ticked away as we traveled through Debary and I managed to hang onto the 1:55 group.  As runners fell away, I caught the pacer, Eve Barrett, a 3-time Ironman finisher from Dunedin, at mile 10.  We chatted a bit as we zipped along and a few more people dropped back.  At mile 11.5, there were only 5 in the group and I pulled away, confident that I could press hard to the finish.  I started running down people ahead of me and at mile 12 I still felt strong.  Running with Ashlee on my mind, I ran as hard as I could and hit the finish line at 1:53:31, a new PR by 1:21!  I waited to thank Eve for her efforts and after a quick picture, I went to check out the results.  I was very pleased to see I finished Third out of 18 in my age group, good for an plaque.  At the awards ceremony, I ran into an old friend, Ken Allen, who had won his age group along with Charlie St.Cyr-Paul, who won his.  A great day all the way around.  I look forward to running with Ashlee again soon after her recovery



Along the St. Johns's River



Jack with Ken Allen

Real Florida 10K trail run

Warren Popp, Park Manager, with me after the race.

This is the 3rd time I've run this 10K in my training ground of the Wekiwa Springs State Park and it was the toughest.  While the course was slightly different, I pushed as hard as possible after last year's loss by 5 seconds.  ( I didn't know anyone was ahead of me mixed in with the 5K finishers.)  Since I'm on the board of the Wekiwa Wilderness Trust, I was at registration at 6:30 to help out.  At 8:00, I went out to warm up for the 8:20 start which was then delayed until 8:30.  I started out very fast to get as far ahead as I could before the first singletrack section at mile 1.2.  I kept my splits up around 8:30 and went through the usual fatigue/recovery phases.  I did something new, not carrying a bottle of Hammer Perpeteum with me as I drank one 250 calorie one during registration plus a half bottle right at the start.  Picked up the pace at mile 4 past the sinkholes and headed towards the finish.  I was flying for the last 500 yards and finished at 53:22:80 with an 8:36 pace per mile.  This gave me a 7th overall out of 91 finishers and a first out of four in my age group.  Very pleased!

Warren with Don Philpott, WWT President

Debbie, Sue, & Scott

Inaugural Celebration Marathon

Sunday, January 26 was the inaugural Town of Celebration Marathon and Half Marathon in Celebration, Florida, known as the "Disney Town".  Conceived of 20 years ago by the Disney Corporation as a New Urban community, this was their first ever Marathon and Half run at this location.  This was held as a charity event for the local schools.  I signed up for the marathon, which would be my 5th in 10 years, and friends Kevin Casey (half) and Ashlee Curran (full) signed up too.

The race morning revealed perfect weather for us, 55 at the start, 65 for the finish, with a light overcast through much of the event.  With a total of 2,200 competitors, this was definitely a lower key event than Walt Disney World's 25,000 two weeks earlier.  With such a small field, I started the clock only 50 seconds after the gun.  The marathon was a 2 loop course, which wound through the town and the greenbelt areas that are interspaced in the community. The course was relatively flat with some long straightaways and some twisty parks in the neighborhoods.  There were also 2 areas where we ran on boardwalks through wetlands.  The volunteers were very vocal in their support and it was great to run through a town where many residents called out encouragement from curbside and their front porches.  Little girls cheering in oversized pajamas were especially cute.  I felt strong throughout the run (fueled by Hammer Nutrition!) and paced myself well. My goal was to PR at 4:30 and discovered at the first bathroom break that I had forgotten to disable the Autopause feature on my Garmin, so it paused everytime I did.  I kept guessing at my times based on the few race clocks on the course and just trusted on my luck. 

After the split at Mile 12, the 2nd lap course got very quiet as the majority (75%) were doing the half.  Something interesting happened then; with a solitary run, I began getting into the zone.  I was running along steadily and evenly and felt very focused.  After mile 15, I was looking at my GPS every 10 minutes and watching the miles click by.  I never felt so smooth and confident before in a long race.  I began reeling runners in, one at a time, and nobody passed me again. My strategy of sticking with descending mile splits was working fine.  I caught the 4:30 pacers at mile 20 and stayed with them until 24 when I picked up the pace and finished with a 4:29:21 for a new PR by 2:47.  My Garmin showed 4:20:56, so I lost over 8 minutes on bathroom breaks and water stops.  The correct chip time gave me a mile split of 10:17; my Garmin also showed I ran 26.46 miles which meant the course was measured a true 26.2 mile marathon distance.  In addition, it displayed a caloric burn of 3,693 calories!  I took in about 1500 calories, Hammer Perpeteum and Hammer Gels, during the race.  Kevin set a PR for the half with a 2:28 but unfortunately Ashlee had stomach issues at mile 16 and had to drop out.  Better luck next time Ashlee.

My previous marathon times;

2004 Disney 5:18:56 (age 50)

2009 Disney 4:51:33

2010 Disney 4:32:08 (26 degrees at 6:00 AM start!)

2012 Disney 4:38:53 (ITB at mile 22 after the slanted ramp)

There were 1,575 finishers for the Half and 506 for the Full, a trend seen as of late as half-marathons have taken off in popularity.  This race was very well run for a first time event and I'm looking forward to next year's Celebration Marathon.  Nice medal too.

Books: No Meat Athlete & Faster plus Winter training

 

 I found an interesting book called No Meat Athlete by Matt Frazier.  It's full of information and stories by Matt and a host of Ironman triathletes and ultrarunners.  If you want to go vegan and still compete this is the book.  There is plenty of other great data that pertains to nutrition in general.  I'm not sure if I'm ready to go vegan.  A friend, Dr. Deva, is vegan and that's what got me interested.  I stopped at Hoover's last week and bought 4 packets of vegan protein powder.  Compared to the Publix Whey Protein Powder I have been using, these are pretty bland.  The Vega Sport was the only one I would use again but I'm sure they all would work in a fruit smoothie.  All the directions had me mix them with water but almond "milk" might be better.  My friends at Hammer Nutrition have a new line of vegan products so I may try those too.

It's cooler here in Florida now and I've been training for the Town of Celebration Marathon coming up on January 26. I've stepped up my road and trail running and am aiming for a PR of 4:30 there. The course is a double loop, very flat, and is a Boston Marathon Qualifier; for my age, that is 3:50 so I'm not even close.  On December 21, I did my fastest trail run, 14.45 miles with 10:30 mile splits and early Christmas morning, I ran my fastest 5.5 mile road loop in the park (with hills) in 49:55, translating to 9:05 mile splits.

 

I found another book about triathlon called Faster by Jim Gourley.  Lots of practical information and advice on how not to spend money on things which will not improve your speed.  He found that on the bike, an aero helmet has more benefit than aero wheels and an aero frame has little benefit at all.  A properly positioned rider is the best aerodynamically.  He also found that trail running is 43% harder than road running, a notion I agree with.

 

 

# 125 Fall Festival Olympic Triathlon at Moss Park

I had a great race this morning at Moss Park, southeast of Orlando.  It was an Olympic-distance event and was combined with a sprint tri which started after me.  It was nice to have a crowded bike and run course because of my enjoyment in chasing people down.


Beautiful sunrise!

Swim, Bike, and Run!

The .9 mile sunrise swim took me 32:39 minutes and the water was warm on top and cool a foot down.  The temps were in the low 70s at the start of the 22.6 mile bike and I pushed as hard as I could to average 20.0 mph for the distance.  There was a new competitor in my age group who I had never seen before and was unsure what to expect from him.  However, after not seeing him on the bike, I took off on the run and cranked out 8:40 minute miles hoping to catch him, if he was ahead.  I spotted one guy with 62 on his leg but as I closed on him, it turned out he was doing the sprint distance.  My finish time of 2:34.26 was one of my best there and I discovered after the results were posted, that my competition was 4+ minutes behind me after the swim and fell further back all during the race.  I'm glad I drove myself as hard as possible anyway because you never know who mught be closing on you.  I was glad of the win too and met several other "Jeff Cuddeback coached people" as we were wearing the same kits.  One guy, Luis Pou, took 1st Overall!  Another, Charlie St. Cyr Paul, grabbed 2nd OA in the Tri Sprint.  Luis' wife Pam was racing also.


Jack with Luis and Pam Pou

# 124 Moss Park Olympic Triathlon

Today was the 4th Annual BelieveStrong Moss Park Olympic-distance Triathlon in Orlando.  The field was small today and from now on all the Epic races will have the Sprint and Olympic on the same day.  One cool incident at the start was the announcer couldn't get the Star Spangled Banner to play so one of the competitors sang it acapella; she was great! 

My longtime rival, Bill Floyd from Tampa, was there and he beat me by 4 + minutes as my finishing time was 2:35:13.  We were the only men in 60-64, so I got second.  I had a great race, feeling strong throughout.


Jack and Bill Floyd

At the same time in Winter Park was the Celebration of Running 5 K and my friend Kevin Casey (see photo from last race) had his whole family run with him including 5 year old Kyle.  The picture below shows Kyle with his mother Linda and sister Rachael in the background.  He finished the race and had a great time!

Kyle and Linda race to the finish!