Tri-Peachtree City 2006 Race Report...

Ok,

So, I did not get a podium finish, and I also did not get a top 10 finish. I also did not finish better than 1 hour 15 minutes. On the good side, I did beat my time from last year. The bad side of that though, was that I beat my time mostly due to decreased transition times, and not increased performance in either the swim/bike/run. So without further ado, here are the times/report.

Swim (.3mi/480meters???) - 12min 32 sec

I think that the swim was longer than .3 miles, but after my debacule with the discrepancies on the Silver Comet Trail distances, I am not going to argue with the race directors measurements for the race. I only feel that way due to the fact that I did not stop at all swimming this year, even though it did not look pretty.

They do a staggered start in twos every 5 seconds and I was the last pair in my group (group 4). For the first 100M, I was doing ok. Then I broke down after that. The swim course was a narrow rectangle and as I approached the first turn bouy, traffic hit. Now you would think with a total number of participants at 739, we would be ok...? How about feeling like you are in a wash cycle and you are the clothes. I got beat to hell from before the first turn bouy till about 50M after the second and final turn bouy. Because of the traffic I had to sight more often and this caused me to get out my rythm big time, which meant two strokes and swim, every once in awhile doing three to switch sides. When I got out of the water, I was not happy with my time at all. If the distances are correct, then I did approximately 160 meters less than last year (they changed the course distances due to a slight relocation for the increased participants), and swam 16 seconds faster than last years time (which means if it would have been .4 mile, then i would have been much slower.) That is why I am questioning the distances.

Long story short, pool is different from lake. And by the way this lake sucked. 4.5 feet deep of muddy water all the way. After the race when I wiped off, all 3 of my towels I brought were brown. Yes, brown.

Transition 1 - 1 min 43 seconds

Ok, so I rocked on this one. Beat my time by just over a minute last year. The transition was much bigger too, but my bike was in the most perfect spot. If the transition and race numbers go in the same locations next year, I want to be race number 125-150!!! I got to my stuff, looked at the towel to wipe my gross, muddy, grass - covered feet, and said "fuck it." Threw my socks on and bike shoes with helmet and GU, and went on my way. Could have jogged faster out of T1, but there were other people in front of me, and the transition lanes were only so wide. Coming out of T1 you had to run about 20 meteres before you could get on the bike, they could have shortened that as well.

Bike (13.2 miles) - 39 min 09 seconds

I have to say that I felt alot better on the bike this year. I borrowed Jackie's aerobars (thanks Jackie) and put them on my bike. I will have to get some of my own after this episode because I felt really good on them. It was really hard to stay three bike lengths behind people due to the fact that lots of people were spead out pretty evenly throughout the entire course. I averaged 20mph, .1mph faster than last year. Although it is only 10 seconds faster than last year, the distance is a half mile longer than last year, so I am relatively happy with my time. I would have thought I was faster, since this course is slightly hilly. I was trying to save myself a bit for the run, I did not want to have a repeat of last year.

I passed alot of people on the bike, and there were probably about a dozen or so people that passed me. The only problem I had on the bike was that there was almost half a mile that was a no pass zone coming into the transition area, as well as on the way out!!! What kind of crap is that??? I mean make the last 100 M no pass or something, not half a mile. Basically everyone had to slow to 11-12 mph, so that everyone lost about 30-45 seconds on the deal.

Transition 2 - 1 min 11 sec

I beat my time by 29 seconds, and this is considering that the transition area is at least twice the size as last year, but alas, my bike race position was about 10 yards away from the run exit!!! I was very happy with this.

Run ( 3.1 miles / 5 Kilometers ) - 28 min 13 seconds

Arrrrgh!!! 39 seconds slower than last year. Run course was in reverse from last year. I started off strong, then between mile one and two I broke down just a bit, due to calf cramping and did not get it picked back up until about 2.2 miles into it. By that time, I knew I was going to be over 25 minutes, but I did not know exactly how much (I had total time on my watch going). Blisters formed on the inside of my feet on the arches, that did not help much either. I was going to put some duct tape there before the race, but I did not have enough time before the pre race meeting began. The girl I finished the race with (#54 from Greenville, SC), passed me with a few tenths of a mile to go (she has been training for a marathon in about 6 weeks, needless to say this was a light jog for her. I finished strong.

Final - 1hr 22min 45 sec
15th/30 finishers in Male 25-29, moved up 6 spots from last year.
157th/739 total finishers (as of this posting, final results should be posted soon), moved up more than 100 from last year (I just don't remember excatly how many spots).

Well to sum it up, at least I finished faster than I did last year. I have much to think on, As I began training in February for this season took two weeks off after my Half Iron race in May, and picked up my training straight through the race yesterday. And look what it got me... 1 minute and sixteen seconds.

Tomorrow is my day off, I am going to keep up my training throughout the week, and I will make up my mind on whether or not I will sign up for the Emerald Pointe Triathlon in October. I think that gives me about 6 weeks to race day today. I am sure that I will have some sort of inspirational post up tomorrow to get me back in gear.

To everyone who had a race this weekend, Congratulations. I have read most of your blogs, and i will catch the rest of them tomorrow. Thanks for all the support from everyone who showed up (Jackie, Matt, Stormy, Katie, Merv, Anne, Andy, and Amanada. I am sure that Charlie and Melissa where there in spirit although they were not able to make it). I will say if there was an award for the biggest crowd, I would have had first place with my support team!

Signing out,

Murtha...