There were so many fantastic performances I don’t even know where to begin…
Let’s start with the two wheel crew and the State Crit Championships. Curtis, Jeff and Karel raced the Pro 1, 2 race on Sunday with a team of only 4 guys. Most of the other teams had a full squad. The decided to mark some key guys before the race and the tactic worked well. The Lindner guys came in 11th (Curtis), 17th (Jeff) and 21st (Karel). Curtis would have been a top 5 contender but narrowly escaped a bad scene when he had his wheel swept in the closing portion of the sprint. The next stop for those guys is the Georgia Cup race in 2 weeks. It is a TT, Crit and Road Race. Look for a top finish from Jeff Kopp in the TT – the dude has it dialed in. Curtis and Karel should do well in both the Crit and RR so it could be a good weekend for the shaved leg tough guys.
BFAS #1 was held on Saturday and the overall winner was none other than Olympic hopeful Sara McLarty. Men’s overall winner was Steve Petitt and 2nd place was James Sweeny (former king of the shaved leg tough guys turned tri geek (for now)). I think this is James 5th triathlon ever – damn dude that is some engine. Steve and James raced in different waves and times where actually a tie. The finish places came down to the 100th’s of a second to determine the overall male. An elite wave would have been a fantastic addition to this event as they would have been shoulder to shoulder on the run and in the chute. Maybe next race or next season – this has been needed for a while. Congrats to both Steve and Sween.
JC finished second overall female to Sara – come on JC – she is only a “hopeful” :) - GREAT RACE girl!!!
The rest of the Velocity crew, David Mariotti and Sean Crichton also had a great races (Sean was 2nd in his AG – dude – hello – what about your streak of 1st places – be careful it’s a slippery slope :)
Bringing the smoke in the relay division was Jim Wadsworth with a great bike split putting their team in the 1st place on the day – congrats Jim.
The rest of the VMS crew and friends of the crew headed to the land of mouse ears for a 70.3 weather extravaganza. It rained, it poured, it blew and it got HOT!!! The 70.3 in Disney is one of the most competitive fields in the country. The only tougher competition that I have seen is in the Oceanside 70.3 - 30 miles from where the sport of triathlon started – go figure.
The day started EARLY with the pros hitting the water at 6:20. We actually got to eat dinner the night before the race with Victor (no way I can spell this right) Zyemtsev – he is really cool.
He won CDA and Lake Placid and is very easy to talk with. Look for him to rule the course in CDA again this year – this guy is tough.
The rest of the 20+ waves of AG er’s would start in 3 minute intervals behind them. This swim is a flat water no wetsuit (2 minutes too long) course that really messes with the swimmer the later your wave. There is a HUGE advantage to going off early. I swam through 6 or 7 different colored caps by the end.
The bike is a single loop 56+ (almost 57 mile) course that has a lot of turn around points (5 - I think) and a nice technical section of wet Astroturf around a construction site – yikes. The weather on the bike was overcast and really dark to the west and by midpoint the rain came down hard. The winds were not nearly as bad as forecast and the temperatures were much cooler than expected.
Heading into the run, the rain stopped and the clouds held and weather was really ideal for Florida in May. It was only 80 and overcast. During the 1st loop of the run (for me) the clouds opened up again and DUMPED on us. It rained the mid afternoon summer rain for 5 minutes and it was done. 20-30 minutes later the same clouds were gone and when the sun came out it went from 80 and cloudy to 95 and OMG – is it HOT!!! The rain had made the humidity jump to what felt like 100% and it became instantly BRUTAL. I went from feeling awesome to I hope I finish in ½ mile. The later wave starts had it MUCH worse as they were in the sun for more than just 1 lap.
Enough about the weather – who rocked the house.
I am going to run out of room here …
Tony (I rule the bike) Maniatis – 4:45 and change with 13th in his AG – strong race and well balanced result.
Kerry Mowlam and I had a chance to run together for a little bit of my last lap (I was in an earlier wave) and he finished really strong with a 4:50 and change – great job.
Tyler (my 1st ½ Ironman and I am on a road bike) Vadeboncoeur went 4:59 and change – DUDE – you smoked it!!!
Saswata Roy MD – Doctor 32233 - (his initials are actually SRM-d) – hit a very nice PR with a 5:10 and change. I thought my bike was BLING – dude’s got some spinnerz :)
Kellie (don’t call me Midget) Smirnoff took 6th in her AG with an 11minute PR – Cheeka learned to swim :) and had the 2nd fastest run in her AG – good job Midget – Opps…:)
New addition to the VMS crew – Vann Simmons smoked the bike and struggled with the heat on the run to very respectable finish – Van scored a slot to Ironman Wisconsin – Congrats Vann – 6-7 hour bikes in the summer – yeah – pick me :)
The rest of the Mayo boys –Steve Goodfriend (5:38) and Mike Mohseni (5:46) - in under 6 hours – both 1st timers –– CONGRATS!!!
Freddy “bail money” Bailys (The bail money would be for me as I wanted to strangle the Carabba’s take out guy on Saturday) finished up his race on the hottest part of the day – great job Freddy.
His daughter Nikki took a page out of my son’s Shane’s playbook – nice one - thanks for the HI-5 at the end.
Kevin Ellis – 1st time finisher and never even got into transition before the race – that’s a new one for me. He actually had to pump up his tires in T1. You did it – nice.
Billy Hart and I talked at length about what it would take to get a slot for Clearwater and he went out to get it shooting for a sub 4:40 finish. A great swim and really solid bike set him up for run that would have put him in reach of that goal. Unfortunately - stomach issues killed that on the 2nd lap of the run and I have no doubt that Billy will get his 70.3 spot in Rhode Island.
In all it was a GREAT weekend of racing for everyone.
If I missed anyone – I apologize – I am doing this MTV style “unplugged” and from memory at 35,000 heading to Chicago.
Oh – yeah – I know you wanted to know :) - what about me…there is always a story and a little disclaimer – I never let the facts get in the way of a good story :)
Having done this race before and not really having a goal in mind other than trying to have a good run (1:29:59 or better – hey – aim high :)) – I was really relaxed and didn’t think I would have any problem sleeping race night (apparently – this is my curse). I didn’t medicate and I didn’t sleep. I told my son’s that I didn’t think I was going to race as I felt like KAKA after seeing the clock hit 2am and having to get up at 4am. I actually went and slept on the sidewalk at the hotel in front of the car park so Saswata, Anjna and the Midget would not forget me as I was sure if I stayed in my room I would go back to sleep.
At the start line - I really was DREADING the experience as endurance events to me are more mental and going into to it not enthusiastic makes my PE go sky high.
After waking up during the swim – my third time experiencing this – it sux – I found some good feet and cruised in. The bike was a suffer fest and I wanted it to just end. I was so happy to get to the run as I knew it would be over shortly. I am very happy to say that I told myself – HTFU – suck it up and do it or you will regret it for the next 6 weeks. I did – I finished and I am very happy to say this begins my “off-season”…
I wrote my coach an email yesterday with my race recap and my goals for the off –season – I’ll share then with you as we are starting to land…
Plan from here foreword:
1) FIRST - Play with the kids - as MUCH as possible!!! Balance has been suffering and needs to get fixed.
Then:
2) Get my desire to train revitalized by doing what I want versus having a schedule.
3) Bike as much as I can with the majority of it being in the areas I don't like to ride (220-240) :) - Maybe do Blood Sweat and Gears in late June.
4) Run as often as I can (3-4 a week) with at least 1 long run per week
5) Swim - NOT!!! Surfing instead :)
6) Strength and core - starting back next week - I really like this stuff.
7) Stand up paddling and kitesurfing - we also call this core :)
That’s all for this week…I am really glad my off season started at 11:29am on Sunday with someone giving me a medal and taking off my chip :)
Kia Kaha
No comments:
Post a Comment