TH Triathlon 2014, why yes it was a bit cold
This was my 2nd race of the year, and a bit opposite weather
of the 1st at St. Pete Florida. Water
temp was low 60’s, but the air temp was low 40’s. Everyone asking me how I was going to swim in
the cold water, but I knew that would be easy. With a good wetsuit, and plenty of practice
swimming in those conditions I was well prepared. I knew the tough part would be cycling in the
cold and dripping wet.
I started the swim next to Adam Martin with Greg, Tyler and
Brandon Lucas right behind us. Not the
best form the first 200 yards in, but it got better after I settled down and
got a bit more focus going. I think my
navigation of the course was very good, and didn't have any real issues until
getting into a crowd the last few hundred yards. I came out of the ½ mile swim in 14:17 which
is about what I expected. Running as
fast as I could in bare feet that were quite numb from the cool water I made a
good first transition to the bike.
Thanks Ryan Oiler for the transition clinic last week. The only issue I had was putting on the sun
glasses and finding them totally fogged up.
End up sliding them on the side of the shorts till about mile 3 of the
ride. Took the time to put on a fleece pullover,
but most everyone did something similar.
The ride itself started slow, but I got it going a bit after
being passed by several friends. Troy,
Stan and Tony all came around fairly early.
The middle part I caught back up with Troy, but Stan and Tony were long
gone. Kept my head down and worked as
hard as I could till about 5 miles to go when Troy pulled away a bit. I've been spending too much traveling and not
enough bike time here as of late.
The second transition was not according to plan. I did execute a nice flying dismount and came
up to the racks at a full run. Problem
was my lower legs were totally numb from the cold. I had to put on socks considering that fact,
but was forced to sit down to put them on since I couldn't feel my feet. That was a really odd feeling. Even after running several miles they didn't
feel normal at all.
The run was actually very nice with the cool temps. Just the opposite of St. Anthony’s where it
was more like 90 degrees and I was suffering.
Ended up running 38:21 for the 5 miles which is a full minute slower
than last year. A bit disturbed about
that, and plan to really focus on fixing that ASAP.
As always it was awesome at the finish line. Sherrie was there to greet me as were Jared
and his girlfriend Kaity. Not to mention
so many friends I have in this sport. Honestly
it would be completely meaningless without them to share the day with.
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