St Anthony’s - Wind and Waves

For the second year in a row athletes at St Anthony’s had to contend with rough water in the swim and windy conditions on the bike. At least this year we got the swim in. However, by later swim waves they stopped the race and reset to a shorter swim course due to deteriorating conditions. The new swim course made for a fast swim as most of it was with a tailwind. The bike kept you pretty busy with gusty conditions, especially down town between the tall buildings. Due to a departure morning dental emergency I didn’t put my all of my race wheels in the car for the trip to St. Petersburg. I had to ride with a Zipp disk and a Zipp 808 in the race. Sometimes, on the bike, I felt like I was more in a rodeo than in a triathlon. I don’t recommend this race wheel setup in a 25-30 knot wind. I came out of T2 with a slight lead in my age group but was caught at mile one by the ultimate winner. I was really impressed by this 64 year old guy and his strong 43 min 10K. Still, it was a great race as always - big race buzz and super competition.

John Tanner Race Report

I have done quite a few Tri the Parks races in the past, but I had never done John Tanner since I’m usually down at St. Anthony’s that weekend.  I had heard good things about the race and was excited to have a chance to do it this year.  The weather reports were terrible for Saturday, and it certainly looked bad as I was driving to the race that morning.  I had plenty of time to pick up my packet, get body marked, and set up my transition area.  We ended up with a nice window of decent weather as the storm stopped before the race - and then started up again on my drive home. 

The water didn’t feel too cold to me when I stuck my foot in, so I decided not to wear a wetsuit.  A few others did the same, but most were in wetsuits.  I found the group of all3 girls before the race and watched the earlier waves go off.  The swim start was fine.  It was a waist-deep start, and I felt pretty good at first.  By the time we got to the first buoy, I felt like I was really fighting the water and couldn’t get into a groove.  Other girls had started passing me, and I was just looking for someone’s feet so that I could draft a little.  Out in the middle of the lake, it felt a lot colder, and I was wishing that I had worn my wetsuit… next time.  We started catching up to guys in the earlier waves, and I just tried to hang on.  My stroke felt pretty good, but I didn’t have any speed.  Guess it’s time for me to do a little more speed work in the pool. 

The bike was uneventful.  I was a little nervous because the roads were wet, but it was a fun ride.  It was my first time racing on the new Blue - it’s a great bike!  I loved the course - plenty of rolling hills.  Before I knew it, I was back to the transition area.  It had started raining by the time I was finishing the bike, and I was looking forward to a run in the rain.  The first part of the run took us to a path around the lake, and then there was a nice, HILLY out and back section.  That run course was a lot hillier than I was expecting, but I enjoyed it.  There’s a small section on a gravel road that got pretty muddy with the rain.  Most of my running has been aerobic work, so I wasn’t sure how a 5K in a race would feel.  I finished stronger than I thought I would and felt pretty good about my day.  All in all, it was a great, well-supported race - I’m thinking I’ll sign up for the September one too!