St. Anthony's Triathlon

Just two days ago I finished the St. Anthony's Triathlon, down in St. Petersburg FL. It's one of the biggest triathlons in the United States, with over 3,000 finishing this year. It's my first triathlon since I did the Hagerstown Triathlon back in the late 1980s: at least 23 years ago.

My time was 2:57:33, with the results broken down below ...

It was a great day for a race. We needed to be there by around 6 AM and it was very blustery then, so blustery that they shortened the course length for the swim, and moved the start and finish points for it as well. There was very low humidity, and it did not get too hot that day. There was a nice breeze, which really helped keep me cool during the run.

The entrants were broken out into about 30 categories, based on age, gender, pro, elite amateur, novice, etc. I was in the novice men's group, which was the very last group to start. While the first group started around 7:00 AM, we started at 9:20 AM.

By that point, the water was not so choppy and the wind had calmed down a bit. I am a very strong swimmer but not fast at all and do not have a good technique for freestyle, which is the fastest stroke. So instead I did breaststroke and sidestroke, and still finished faster than my training times in the pool. That's still not saying much as I came in like the bottom 10 percentile in the swim.

With the change in course for the swim, the finish point was about a half mile away from the transition area, where all the bikes are. The pathway to the transition area was a cement sidewalk, and unless you brought an extra pair of shoes or flip flops, you had to run it barefoot. I have problems running in shoes without prescription orthotics, so it was pretty painful for me and I injured my left heel. (Not too seriously - it healed a few days later.)

Extreme workouts make me a little stupid. When I mentioned this to a scientist friend, he said that the drop in glucose and electrolytes causes it. He said that the brain uses a lot of glucose, and that my muscles had taken it all. That explains my train of thought when I found my bike, with two pairs of shoes, socks, all laid out on top of a towel, and the helmet and gloves on the handlebars:

"Okay, there are two pairs of shoes. I'm going to bike now. Those closest ones are the biking shoes. They go on my feet. But first I have to put socks on. But before that, I need to clean off my feet. That's what the towel is for. But to do that I need to sit down. So I better sit down. Where do I sit down without getting dirt on my behind?  ... etc." I literally had to think through putting on a pair of shoes with velcro fasteners.

The biking is easily my best sport and where I had my best time relative to the other male athletes my age. I passed dozens of people, maybe a hundred or more, and not one person passed me. That in itself is exhilarating, especially when I had a burst of energy and was going 23, 25 miles per hour.

The course for the ride and the run was mostly very beautiful. I had forgotten how nice St. Pete is in so many neighborhoods. It was certainly flat. The only hills were bridges over drainage canals. The race officials and police were pretty good about keeping vehicles off the road, with only one stretch where you had to share the road with cars (although the racers had their own lane).

Transition to the run went a little better, but by this point I was no longer fresh and my running pace slowed down pretty considerably from my normal training times. In hindsight, it was also obvious to me that I did not drink enough water or take in enough glucose drinks during the ride. I had two bottles with me, one with water and the other with energy drink. I probably would have done better if they were both energy drink.

For the run, there were water and gatorade stations  every mile, and I took one or both at every mile. Maybe it was the placebo effect, but I swear I immediately felt better when I had the energy drink. By mile 4 or so, I actually got a bit of a second wind, and was able to run the last half mile or so, rather than the jog I had done most of the race. Three times during the run, I slowed to a walk for 30 seconds.

Throughout the race, but particularly with the run, the vibe was very up, very positive. Lots of families cheered us on, and lots of the charity teams also cheered everyone on. By the finish, it was quite warm, and it is always pretty emotional to finish.  Here are my times broken out by event:

Swim (1,000 meters): 24:52
Transition: 9:29
Ride (40 km): 1:17:30
Transition: 3:28
Run (10 km): 1:02:14

You can look for yourself here and just enter my name.

Lots of lessons learned. Some that come to mind:

1. Bring an extra pair of shoes or slippers or something to run in. With triathlons on the open water, the swim course is often changed or shortened. With my feet the way they are, foot protection is pretty much essential.
2. As mentioned earlier, have electrolyte replacement in both water bottles. I don't think you can drink too much of that in this type of event, lasting two hours plus, especially in the heat and sun like last Sunday.
3. Train more. Training for each event only twice a week means training 6 days a week. I was lucky to do four trainings in a week. For four weekends before the race, I did no training.
4. Take swimming lessons. The swim was easily my worst time, and the one where I can make the best improvement. Getting the mechanics of the freestyle stroke right will go a long way.
5. Get more bike equipment, especially the handlebars for a more horizontal position like shown here.
Even though it wasn't too windy, I could feel it often during the ride, especially when I sat more upright while drinking.
6. Next on the equipment list would be a device to allow me to drink while in that more tucked position. I'm thinking of something like this.
7. Ride more. I could probably build my speed up considerably.

I'm not sure if the bug has bitten me hard yet for triathlons, but it sure has for biking again. Race bikes? Hmmm.