MarkU
Well-known member
Although I had done a ?beginners? triathlon at the local Y in Feb of 04, last year?s Siesta Key race was my first ?real? triathlon: a 1K swim in the Gulf of Mexico, a 13.1mile bike and a 5K run on the beach. I was looking forward to it as a measure of how far I had progressed in my training over the past year.
So what do a do a week before? Slip on the wet sidewalk outside my office, landing on the middle finger of my left hand (I?m left-handed, of course), breaking it and bending the knuckle 90 deg. the wrong way.
Fortunately, my PCP is also a triathlete, and figures if I can race with a mechanical heart valve, racing with a broken finger can?t be any worse. Just take the splint off, tape it up and go?
So with my current somewhat diminished typing skills, here is the Reader?s Digest version of my race this past Sunday:
Last year my swim, my first in open water, was an absolute disaster. I went anaerobic after the first 100yds, never was able to get my breathing under control, and struggled the entire way in survival mode with a combination of freestyle, breaststroke, dog paddling, sidestroke, floating on my back with the tide & some other ugly stuff I made up along the way. Took me 0:40 minutes to finish the swim course. I wasn?t the last one out of the water, but certainly was one of the stragglers. This year ? cruised home in 0:24 minutes, including an extra 100 yards or so I added to the course due to a slight navigational error on my part (I kind of veered off towards Key West for a few minutes).
Similar story on the bike, last year I did the 13.1mile ride in 1:00 hour flat, and this year finished in 0:48 minutes, with much less effort, cruising along at 20 mph most of the time. Instead of getting passed by 75 year olds like last year, I was able to easily pass quite a few other riders along the way, which was cool. Felt like Lance Armstrong blowing by Jan Ulrich in the Tour de France time trial?
Unfortunately, I gave a lot of it back on the run, finishing in 45 minutes, a bit slower than last year. It really ticked me off because I had purposely held back on the bike, trying to save my legs for the run. I didn?t have to walk at all, but was just s-l-o-w. Running is my weak event, but I had been very comfortable in my training at a 10-11 minute mile pace for the same distance. Very frustrating.
Anyway, I bettered my finishing time from last year by almost twenty minutes, so I really can?t complain. Actually beat some other people in my 50-54 age group and was once again the winner of the St. Jude valve division.
My broken finger really didn?t affect anything, other than I couldn?t use it to either brake or shift the front derailleur on my bike ? that was okay, since it was a flat course and I would have been in the big front chain ring 99% of the time anyway. I?d like to use it as an excuse for my poor run time, but that would be pretty lame (pun intended).
One last antidote: Pro Triathlete Heather Gollnick just moved to the Sarasota area a few months ago, and used this race a short workout in preparation for the Hawaii Ironman in two weeks. She smoked the women?s field and finished 6th overall. Obviously bored while waiting around for the awards ceremony, she decided to do the run course a second time. As I was plodding along about a mile from the finish, she and some guy go blasting by me, running effortlessly, & casually chatting ? something about prize money.
Mark
So what do a do a week before? Slip on the wet sidewalk outside my office, landing on the middle finger of my left hand (I?m left-handed, of course), breaking it and bending the knuckle 90 deg. the wrong way.
Fortunately, my PCP is also a triathlete, and figures if I can race with a mechanical heart valve, racing with a broken finger can?t be any worse. Just take the splint off, tape it up and go?
So with my current somewhat diminished typing skills, here is the Reader?s Digest version of my race this past Sunday:
Last year my swim, my first in open water, was an absolute disaster. I went anaerobic after the first 100yds, never was able to get my breathing under control, and struggled the entire way in survival mode with a combination of freestyle, breaststroke, dog paddling, sidestroke, floating on my back with the tide & some other ugly stuff I made up along the way. Took me 0:40 minutes to finish the swim course. I wasn?t the last one out of the water, but certainly was one of the stragglers. This year ? cruised home in 0:24 minutes, including an extra 100 yards or so I added to the course due to a slight navigational error on my part (I kind of veered off towards Key West for a few minutes).
Similar story on the bike, last year I did the 13.1mile ride in 1:00 hour flat, and this year finished in 0:48 minutes, with much less effort, cruising along at 20 mph most of the time. Instead of getting passed by 75 year olds like last year, I was able to easily pass quite a few other riders along the way, which was cool. Felt like Lance Armstrong blowing by Jan Ulrich in the Tour de France time trial?
Unfortunately, I gave a lot of it back on the run, finishing in 45 minutes, a bit slower than last year. It really ticked me off because I had purposely held back on the bike, trying to save my legs for the run. I didn?t have to walk at all, but was just s-l-o-w. Running is my weak event, but I had been very comfortable in my training at a 10-11 minute mile pace for the same distance. Very frustrating.
Anyway, I bettered my finishing time from last year by almost twenty minutes, so I really can?t complain. Actually beat some other people in my 50-54 age group and was once again the winner of the St. Jude valve division.
My broken finger really didn?t affect anything, other than I couldn?t use it to either brake or shift the front derailleur on my bike ? that was okay, since it was a flat course and I would have been in the big front chain ring 99% of the time anyway. I?d like to use it as an excuse for my poor run time, but that would be pretty lame (pun intended).
One last antidote: Pro Triathlete Heather Gollnick just moved to the Sarasota area a few months ago, and used this race a short workout in preparation for the Hawaii Ironman in two weeks. She smoked the women?s field and finished 6th overall. Obviously bored while waiting around for the awards ceremony, she decided to do the run course a second time. As I was plodding along about a mile from the finish, she and some guy go blasting by me, running effortlessly, & casually chatting ? something about prize money.
Mark
