Ironman 70.3 Florida

This was a HOT race!  I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought that.  The race was extremely well organized.  They had everything together and knew what to do for the most part if something went wrong.  For instance… I had a flat tire coming out of transition, and being stupid me, it took me 45 mins to change the tire and then realize that the valve on my spare was broken too!  So since I was close to transition, I had to run back through asking for bike support, and they kept pointing me back to transition.  When I got there, the announcer dude heard that I was looking for bike support and came over the speakers telling me where to go.  The guy was also running towards me to help.  He sprinted off to get me a new tire, put it on my rim, and pumped it up for me, and put the rim back on my bike in like 1 minute!  I felt a little more stupid by then.  He was awesome!!!  I should’ve gone there first instead of struggleing with the tire myself since I had never changed on before! �  But overall, the roads were blocked off well and there were no really close calls with cars like there are on some race courses.  All the people helping were so happy all the time!  It’s Disney!  What do you expect!  I mainly did the race for a spot in Ironman, FL, which I got.  And it was cool to see all the pros there too since I usually do Gulf Coast and this was my first actual 70.3.  I would do the race again just because of the proximity to Atlanta, but am going to try my hand at Augusta in September, which is even closer!!! �

Peachtree International Race Report

Four All3Sports team members sported the new team uniform at the Peachtree International Triathlon (Hope I didn’t miss anyone) this past weekend.  The weather was overcast and cool but a bit humid. We got the race in and the awards done just before a major thunderstorm hit. Trey Prophater had a rock solid performance and was just edged out of first in the very competitive 30-34 age group by 14 seconds. Yvonne Bedell topped a strong field of women in the 30-34 age group. She capped her effort with an excellent 42:35 10K. Karl Wentzel, 65-69 age group, may be ready to give up Ironman races with his recent successes at the Olympic distance. He finished first with a very good 30:09 swim. I was happy with my effort in the 60-64 age group and glad to not let the team down at the awards ceremony.

St. Anthony’s Race Report

The practice swim on Saturday for told what would come on Sunday.  Strong winds and choppy water. The weather forecast was for winds as high as 40 miles per hour over the night. Frequent peaks out the window during the night showed no abatement in the winds. Soon after transition opened on Sunday morning the announcement was made. Except for the pros, there would be no swim. This didn’t come as good news for many of us who count on a good swim to help our efforts. However, having been a race director in the past, I think that a good decision was made. Among the over 3000 participants were many who would not have been able to safely handle the conditions.

With the swim cancellation announcement it was now time to rethink race strategy. I was focused on the number one guy in my age group from last year. Even though I had out swam and out ran him last year he had gapped me by 3 minutes on the bike and taken the age group win by 20 seconds. I have spent the subsequent year focusing on the bike, but now I wouldn’t have the aid of the swim. Furthermore, during swim practice on Saturday morning I had smashed my foot into a submerged object. A subsequent doctors visit would show a fracture and torn tendon of my second toe. My new race plan was to ride hard and see how the run on an iffy foot would unfold.

To my surprise he didn’t catch me on the bike until 23 miles and I easily stayed with him to T2. This was a PR ride for me and it really confirmed my faith in my new coach and the direction he has given me. The first mile of the run was fairly painful but my toe soon numbed and I ran smoothly catching my competition at the 3-mile turn around. He only stayed with me a few yards and then it was time to see how much distance I could put on him. The final results showed that he had only out biked me by33 seconds but that I had outran him by 1:35. The early unofficial results showed me with a satisfying 20 second win. However, when the final results were posted I had moved to third partly due to a 2-minute position penalty and a top Canadian who was not in the early results. I make every effort to race by the rules, so the penalty was a bit of a shock. Considering all that happened I am pleased with my results and still consider St Anthony’s as one of the top competitive races in the United States.