Tri in Sarasota 1/9/21
12-25-21, 07:37 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Tri in Sarasota 1/9/21
If anybody is going to be in the area, there's a triathlon in Sarasota on January 9th. I'm visiting family out there for a couple weeks so I decided to enter. If you're in the area, stop by and say 'hi'.
Correcton: 1/9/22
Correcton: 1/9/22
01-15-22, 01:52 AM
#2
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Well, no responses posted so I guess nobody was close enough to stop in. Anyway, I just got back from Florida yesterday. I did the tri in Sarasota last Sunday. I did the Olympic. Only the second Olympic I've done, and I have one more here (Las Vegas) scheduled in April. After that, I think I'll be done with Olympics. I'll keep doing tris, but just stick to sprints.
Anyway, I finished. I finished almost last, but I finished. That's not an exaggeration. Overall, I think I was fourth from last. But I won my age group. Pretty easy to do when you're the only one in your age group!
I have the hardest time with the swim. It's my worst event. I'm a "water plow". I have a garbage kick and my legs just end up sinking, so instead of swimming on top of the water like most people, my legs pretty much dangle, making me very slow. Our course was two laps and the men had a three minute head start. Even with that distance, I was starting to get passed by the fastest guys by the second buoy. And I think I was passed by the entire men field before I finished my first lap. In fact, there was only one swimmer in the water after me.
As most here might expect, the ride is my strongest event. Even on my old Cannondale, I still maintained almost an 18mph pace for the 26 miles. Like the swim, it was two laps of a course. I began to get worried on my second lap though as I didn't see any riders the entire second lap until the very end. I thought I had gone off course or something. It's a little disheartening to be riding with absolutely NOBODY in sight. But within the last two miles I caught up and passed four other riders. That went a long way to boosting my drive.
Finally on to the run. By this time I was pretty well spent. I still ran most of the way, but have to admit to walking at least a fair bit, maybe half a mile. I used to be a much better runner when I was younger but age and arthritis have slowed me down quite a bit. When I do run now, I try to keep my distances under 5 miles, so a 10k is a pretty good distance for me. Then to run that after the swim and ride, I'm just getting too old for this stuff.
But I honestly feel like I left everything I had out on the course. When I crossed the line, I laid down right there in the dirt for a good 10 minutes and didn't give a crap about all the dirt and grass on me. It was pretty warm that day too. By the time I finished the race, around 2pm, it was pushing 80*.
I'm expecting the conditions to be a little better for the Olympic in April, but that time of year in Vegas is a crap shoot (no pun intended). One April, the daily high can be 58*, the next April, it might be 85*. The only thing I'm confident about is the water temp will be quite cool still. But just so long as it's not windy, mostly because the swim is in Lake Mead, I'll deal with it.
Anyway, I finished. I finished almost last, but I finished. That's not an exaggeration. Overall, I think I was fourth from last. But I won my age group. Pretty easy to do when you're the only one in your age group!
I have the hardest time with the swim. It's my worst event. I'm a "water plow". I have a garbage kick and my legs just end up sinking, so instead of swimming on top of the water like most people, my legs pretty much dangle, making me very slow. Our course was two laps and the men had a three minute head start. Even with that distance, I was starting to get passed by the fastest guys by the second buoy. And I think I was passed by the entire men field before I finished my first lap. In fact, there was only one swimmer in the water after me.
As most here might expect, the ride is my strongest event. Even on my old Cannondale, I still maintained almost an 18mph pace for the 26 miles. Like the swim, it was two laps of a course. I began to get worried on my second lap though as I didn't see any riders the entire second lap until the very end. I thought I had gone off course or something. It's a little disheartening to be riding with absolutely NOBODY in sight. But within the last two miles I caught up and passed four other riders. That went a long way to boosting my drive.
Finally on to the run. By this time I was pretty well spent. I still ran most of the way, but have to admit to walking at least a fair bit, maybe half a mile. I used to be a much better runner when I was younger but age and arthritis have slowed me down quite a bit. When I do run now, I try to keep my distances under 5 miles, so a 10k is a pretty good distance for me. Then to run that after the swim and ride, I'm just getting too old for this stuff.
But I honestly feel like I left everything I had out on the course. When I crossed the line, I laid down right there in the dirt for a good 10 minutes and didn't give a crap about all the dirt and grass on me. It was pretty warm that day too. By the time I finished the race, around 2pm, it was pushing 80*.
I'm expecting the conditions to be a little better for the Olympic in April, but that time of year in Vegas is a crap shoot (no pun intended). One April, the daily high can be 58*, the next April, it might be 85*. The only thing I'm confident about is the water temp will be quite cool still. But just so long as it's not windy, mostly because the swim is in Lake Mead, I'll deal with it.
