Gulf Coast Triathlon - Part 1

Double D taking in the view
This was a 1/2 Ironman distance race (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) held in Panama City, Florida. This race has been around for 26 years which is pretty amazing for such a "young" sport. Many of the triathlon greats have won, and participated in this race including Mark Allen, Dave Scott, Scott Molina and many more!

This was a bit of a homecoming for me since I did this race in 1985, which was the year Mark Allen won...oh brother, that was a long time ago. Myself and Richard Wilson, with whom I ran cross country, decided we should do the race. Richard was 17 and I was 15 at the time, and we swam a couple times in a pool along with a few bike rides before the "big event". Richard won our age group, a good swimmer from a local rival high school who was 17 took 2nd, and I limped past the 4th place finisher in the last mile to take 3rd. I ended up laying on the ground with heat sickness dry heaving all day long...that was fun. I must have looked pretty bad during the race, all the volunteers kept asking me my name and where I was from to see if I was still coherent.

Danny and I arrived on Friday and did a quick swim, run, and bike to make sure everything was working correctly. We stayed at the race hotel/condo complex, and it was really convenient and very nice accommodations. Jennifer and Clair arrived later that day.

The wives arrive...


Twenty three years later I never would have guessed that I would be back to the race labeled the Gulf "Roast" Triathlon due to the heat and high winds...but, there I was with Danny "Double D" Domingo and Greg "Gills" Carr getting ready to run into the Gulf of Mexico, in what turned out to be a choppy swim with some nice swells. The water temperature allowed wetsuits and the race started in age group waves...both of which were much better than the mass start non-wetsuit pummeling I received oh so long ago.

Since our age group was so large we were split into two waves based on our last names. "Carr and Domingo" were in the wave ahead of me, and mine would start 5 minutes later. The swim was a little rough, and it was a bit difficult sighting the buoy's...you would have to wait until you were on top of a swell and then look up to find the next one. It was an out and back swim, and on the way back sighting wasn't difficult if you just used the race condo as a sighting point...for some reason I swam over all kinds of people who didn't grasp this concept. I didn't push too hard on the swim so felt good running out of the water into transition 1. I ran to my bike, which was packed in like a sardine, and threw my wetsuit, goggles, and cap on the grass next to the bike rack...then put on the bike stuff and headed out onto the course. I didn't know at the time, but my swim time was 32:59 (33rd in age group, 152nd overall)...not great, but not bad for the conditions...and my transition 1 time was slow, as usual (3:38, 468th overall!)...I've gotta work on my T1!

I headed out on the course and started going through all the people...which is actually a pretty dangerous process when you start way back in wave 10! There was a tailwind on the way out, and I was doing 27-28 mph, and passing people doing 18-20 mph. I had to keep my head up at all times so I didn't crash into the back of someone! Going into the turn-around I saw Danny about 7 or so minutes up on me, and Greg was about 30 seconds behind him...Danny didn't look like he was feeling good, and normally he would have been further ahead of Greg. There were a lot less people on the way back, and it was a stiff head wind. I passed mile 50 at about 2 hours flat, so knew I was averaging 25 mph which was my target...I had also been holding myself back the whole ride to stay in my target heart rate zones, so was very happy with the speed.

Heading into transition 2 I felt pretty good, changed quickly, and then headed out onto the hot run. I ended the bike with a 2:14:58 (2nd age group, 9th overall) and left T2 5th in our age group and 17th overall. My first mile was 6:40, so I slowed it down and was doing a little over 7:00 for the next couple. At this point I felt great and had visions of a great run and good finish...oh how things can change quickly in this sport! I learned later that Danny and Greg up ahead of me were having some major issues. They had great swim and bike splits heading out onto the run in 5th and 6th overall, but were experiencing major issues on the run. Danny didn't feel that great on the bike, so slowed down quite a bit towards the end, and eventually dropped out between mile 1 and 2 on the run...he was having a bad day compacted by the flair up of his foot injury. Greg mis-judged the nutrition a bit and started throwing up sometime around mile 4...he would also DNF. I kept rolling along, and after mile 5 I started having some issues. I stopped sweating and started getting nauseous, so I had to start dumping water on myself to cool down...I hate doing this because it soaks your shoes, and also starts the blister making process. As I continued to slow down I was getting passed by everyone I passed on the run earlier. I decided just to try and stay within myself as much as possible and finish up the best I could. I started dumping ice down my shorts (thanks for the tip Shawn Burke) to help the cooling process.

I finished in 4:37:19 (10th age group, 36th overall)...and let me tell you, it hurt! Besides the blisters on the bottom of my feet, my body was pretty wrecked. I was happy to finish, but disappointed I lost between 7-10 minutes on the run split (1:44:26, 21st age group, 84th overall). In retrospect the race finished ok, just a bit outside of my expectations...and I learned a few things. One of those is that the 35-39 age group is the toughest of any group outside of the Pro category! With my time, I would have ended up third in the 40-44 age group, which I will be in next year...but only 10th in the 35-39.

(End Part 1)

Turtle Crawl...pictures

Thanks to Gray Quetti for these actions shots!

Here I am, headed out to dance with the spiny jellyfish...


Trying to make up time on Greg and Danny...


Doing my version of the "Turtle Crawl" on the run...

Fleishmann in the race action at South Africa

Here's an article Double D sent me that mentions Fleishmann doing a race in South Africa (Man that guy gets around!)...he was right in the thick of things during the swim and bike. If he emails me an update I'll post the details.

Turtle Crawl...jellyfish haul...

Greggy "I'm running like a freak" Carr, Danny "I own the bike and swim" Domingo, and Myself ("Come on guys, wait for me!") went up to Jekyll Island to do the Turtle Crawl Triathlon. It is Olympic distance, and would be a great workout...and it's a good cause.

The weather was great, but got a little hot on the run portion...but overall a great day. The swim was a time trial start, where they started two swimmers every 5 or 10 seconds...then you would sprint into the water and head for the first buoy. Your start order was based on the time you submitted as your approximate finish. I started 21st, with Danny and Greg starting up further.

Going around the first buoy something bumped into me, I thought it was just another swimmer...it turned out to be jellyfish, and they felt pretty big. I guess they weren't the kind that stung because about every other stroke I was grabbing a jellyfish, or swimming over one...it was kind of creepy. Anyhow I was glad to get out of the water. I felt pretty good during the whole thing and only 1 or 2 people passed me, and with the time trial start it was nice and spread out without swimming over anyone.

Danny had the second fastest time...some ex-swimmer from Georgia Tech beat him by a couple seconds, but Danny smoked him out of transition 1 by over a minute. Greg was about a minute behind, and I came in 3 minutes down on Danny and 2 down on Greg...although they both put another minute into me during the transition...I've gotta work on that. My T1 is always slow, and I don't attach my shoes to the bike like those guys do, so I clop-clop clop-clop down to the mount line for the bike.

Out on the bike I try to make up some time, and after the first loop I see Greg at a turn-around point, and he has 1 1/2 - 2 minutes on me...but I don't see Danny. I assume he is WAY up the road. It turns out that the volunteers weren't setup for the turn-around when Danny got there, so he went straight...adding 2+ miles to his bike!

I headed into transition 2 and didn't see any bikes, so knew I was doing ok. I knew Greg was in front of me, and heading out of T2 some guy tells me that "he's 35 seconds ahead of you". My legs weren't feeling too spunky, and I was really pounding my feet. It was starting to get hot, so I was dumping water on myself...and my shoes absorbed all the extra water...squish, squish, squish...

I saw Greg in the lead coming back from the run turn-around...and he was going FAST! He ended up running a 36:22 for the 10k. I hit the turn-around in second, but there were runners closing fast, one of them being Danny. As I was blowing up on the return, three people passed me including Danny. I was hoping to be right around/under 40 minutes, but slogged home in 42:59.

Greg won, Danny was 4th and I was 5th overall. I'm not sure what was wrong with my legs on the run, but hopefully they'll come around for the Gulf Coast triathlon next weekend. The good part is that I was happy with the bike split, and pleased that I didn't lose tons of time in the water.

Here's the results.

I'll post some pictures when I get them.

Sween

Recover, recover, recover...but, quickly!

I'm still trying to get the old body to come back around after IM AZ. This week I started feeling much better, especially on the run. It will still take a while to get back to 100%.

I have 3 races in a row starting this coming weekend...probably not the best schedule, but I'm ready to have some fun and race. This Saturday Danny, Greg and I are headed up to Jekyll Island for the Turtle Crawl Triathlon. It's a 1.5k swim, 40k bike, and 10k run...we'll see if my legs can generate some speed.

The next weekend Danny and I are doing the Gulf Coast Triathlon. This is a half Ironman distance race (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run) and will be the second time I've done the race. I did it when I was 15 years old back in 1985...yes, I'm really that old. Maybe I'll post some pictures from that race...Clair saw them and almost coughed up here lunch, they're pretty funny. I went to high school in Panama City, so it will be nice to see a couple friends while I'm over that way.

Then, finally, when my legs feel like pulp...I'll do the first race of the Beaches Fine Arts series the weekend after Gulf Coast. I should really get blasted here...with the state my legs will be in...and considering the course is geared towards runners. It's a sprint triathlon that consists of a 1/4 mile swim, 11 mile bike, and 3 mile run...of course I wish the bike were a bit longer, maybe 50 miles :-)

In all, it will be fun to do some racing instead of just training these next few weeks. Danny should do really well coming up...his swim and bike are exceptional, and his running injury is much better. Greg should also do well if he finally commits to any of these races...his swim is always great, and his run is phenomenal right now!

...also...a BIG congrats to Shawn Burke who was 3rd in his age group this past weekend in St. Anthony's...he averaged 6:15/mile for the 10k!

Sween