Friday, November 20, 2009

Boys Ranch Sprint Triathlon

This is my second Triathlon so far in my Triathlon comeback. It is a very small race at the Florida Sheriff's Boys Ranch in the Panhandle of Florida not far from Lake City where I-75 and I-10 intersect. The distances are a 750 meter swim, 16km bike, and 5k run.

The swim is in the Suwanee River which is on the north border of the Ranch. This part was daunting for me. First off I didn't know if there would be a current which could whisk me away! Plus it was really cold on race morning. 45 degrees according to the car's temperature on the dashboard. So as I got down to the water, I noticed that all the Triathletes had wetsuits on! I was going to freeze! Plus the water was pitch black. We had an impromptu National Anthem by one of the racers and we were off in a wave start. Once in the water I couldn't breath! I was two seconds from getting out of the water and taking off for home when I remembered my contingency plan. Breast Stroke! I couldn't put my head in the water it was so cold! So I just treaded water until I saw the other racers in front of me walking? Turns out the river is down way down from previous levels so their are sandbars and the depth varies a ton from place to place. Soon we all were running or wading through the water. That was a relief. So I waded through the turn around and my thighs were burning bad not good for the bike. The swim is supposed to save your legs. On the other side of the river, it was deeper so I was able to swim a little bit. I put my head down and tried to get into a rhythm. I swam about 15 strokes and I ran into a log. It scratched me up pretty good, the cuts are still healing. Also the current was there on the return trip a lot faster. I wasn't able to exhale in the water though way too cold still. I made it through and ran up to transition. The kids and Summer were there to see the bizarre surreal scene and were cheering me on. Little Addy was jumping up and down screaming "My Daddy, My Daddy!". The swim was 12:06

Transition was quick, Shoe, shoe, Heart rate monitor, watch, Shirt, Glasses, helmet, GO!

The bike at first was hard. I was wet and cold and couldn't feel my lower extremities. The bike felt weird like I had broke a spoke or had a flat tire. I figured out that since my legs were numb I had no feel for the bike either. But the good thing with that was I didn't have to worry about going hard, I made my way out the ranch to the roads and the loop that waited for me. I hadn't previewed the course on the bike, but I had driven it and knew that there weren't many hills that I couldn't handle. I did well averaging over 15 mph for the ride an improvment of 1 mph from the previous race in Clermont. Stayed the in the big ring for most of it after I could feel my legs. The kids cheered me on into T2.

T2 was even quicker, sock, shoe, sock, shoe, GO! I ran out the T2 less then 2 minutes. I grabbed my Iphone to track the run. I tried to track it on the bike, but I couldn't make it work since it was so cold.

The run was a two lap course that finished in a different place then Transition. The kids ran with me for a little bit and that was cool. Again Addy was great with the "My Daddy, My Daddy!" I continued on no problems. No tendonitis in the left knee. I was able to run most of the way in periods until my Heart Rate got too high so I wouldn't go Anaerobic. I ended up running about a 14:40 pace. Which is ten seconds faster then my previous race.

All in all a great race I accomplished my goals, introduced my kids to Triathlon, and I won my Division!

Not sure about the next race but I'm going to work on strength and building a good base for the next race where ever that may be.

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