My 2011 Race Season is Finally Here!

Hi Everyone,

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  The weather here in Atlanta was great, and evidenced by the numerous people out and about trying to escape the cabin fever that was this past winter.  I did just over 10 miles on Saturday for my last long run before the Publix Georgia Half Marathon this coming weekend, and then on Sunday I did a bit over 26 miles on the new bike (Silver Comet Trail).  I need to figure out a way to get my RunningAhead Training Log to post to my Facebook page.  Anyone know how to do that?  I am gonna eventually have my training log on one of the static page links at the top of my blog.  Speaking of which.... I guess you guys/gals have seen my new blog static pages that I have started :)  Still slower than I would have liked, but that is also due to grad school (stupid grad school!!!!)

The "About Me" page has the ABC's of me listed, so if you want to jump on that bandwagon just click on the link and read (there is also a Fresh Prince of Bel Air reference at the top of the page).

 

Speaking of the Publix Georgia Half Marathon, Wes giving a lot of smack talk, at least is backing it up by kickin my ass this weekend ;)  Here's to your PR buddy!  Also my friend Tommy will be in the event as well, as he graciously has taken his sister's race number since she will not be able to participate in the event this year.  Kinda want to drive the course again to see where all the elevation changes are.  I might do that on Saturday when the traffic is not bad.  Actually, now that I am looking at the course map online, I might not need to.  I know where all the elevation gains are at. 

So I have to take my girlfriend into the shop (most likely tomorrow) for her new ride tune up.  Of course all wrench heads will tell you after you get that new bike that after you ride it some, the cables will loosen/tighten, etc and you will need to bring it in one more time to make sure that it gets really dialed in to where it needs to be.  Well that happened to me over the weekend.  at 1/2 way through the ride, I could no longer go into the large chain ring.  Not only that, but when I stopped and physically moved it up to the new chain ring, it moved itself back down as to say, "nope, have fun with this one all the way home." As for the rear cassette, I am having shifting issues through the middle of the cassette, which should just be an adjustment issue.  The other problem is about 4 miles from home, I see that the reverse bolt that holds everything together up front (crank arms, bottom bracket, chainrings, etc) is about to come completely out.  Also I screwed it in, but not tight enough because that is the one where you need to use a torque wrench, and I don't have a torque wrench.  No good.  Otherwise the ride was nice :)

The only other thing that I wanted to bring up was a USAT provision that I thought was a rule. Kinda peeved about it.  Here is the skinny!

There was a race I participated in last season (I will have to go back and check my notes) where I was trying to put in some fast times, especially in transition, so I decided that I would go back to the old school clipping your shoes onto your bike and setting that up for a fast T1.  I got there early and got everything set up, and left to use the restroom.  I heard my number getting called over the loudspeaker, and I went to my transition rack with a USAT referee there.  He stated that AG'ers were not allowed to have their shoes clipped in during T1.  I politely told him that I have actually read the rules and I do not remember this being listed anywhere.  He replied that this was the rule and if I did not comply I would be penalized for it.  At this point we have about 20 min till transition closes, and even though there was time, I was kinda pissed.  I have now done this about 6 times and I have never had that problem before.  So I fixed everything and then went on with my race.  For the rest of the season I repeated this process so as not to get in trouble. 

Recently I heard on the IMTalk podcast that john was talking about fast transitions and that a person had emailed in from the states that USAT does not allow AG'ers to put on shoes on their bikes for T1.  This got the blood boiling again, and so I actually went and read the rules yesterday.  Went through every damn page.  Guess what was NOT there!  ANY RULE PREVENTING AG'ers PUTTING SHOES ON THEIR BIKE FOR T1!  So I go onto the Facebook page of USATriathlon yesterday, and ask this question.  Their response...

"Hi Andy: this actually has never been a rule. In USAT-sanctioned events (unless the RD files for an exemption) you are allowed to attach your shoes to your bike if you wish."

I have asked a number of triathletes in the past, and there is an increasing number that say they have encountered this at races.  So either there are a lot more RD's filing exemptions, or the RD's are not wanting the risk of injury to an average AG'er trying to execute a mount and ride with their shoes on their bike.  So they just tell them they are not allowed to do it.  That is my guess.  And please note that I am not knocking the USAT, I just think that if there is OR is not a policy in place, that the officials need to adhere to that policy and if there are exemptions filed, then they need to have make that known in the race packet, pre-race meeting, and/or announcements before the race while people are in transition.  That's all I want, adherence and transparency.

USAT has gotten back to me before I finished this post and told me that the Commissioner of Officials will allow people to inquire about specific races to see if that race has any exemptions filed for it.  I thought that was very helpful to know!  Thanks USAT (more specifically whomever is in charge of their Facebook page)!!!

Have a good week, I will speak to y'all on Friday!

Race Week!

Hooray for race week!

I just re-upped my membership to USAT for 2010.  I guess that means I better be in at least 4 events this year.  Rev3 sent out their race packet info yesterday, and I have already poured through it.  I am planning on getting there early enough to do the group swim at 10am on Saturday morning (hopefully I will see Sarah!), then going to meet up with Mike and his fiance around 12pm.  Do one of the afternoon athlete meetings, pick up my race packet, drive the course, rack my bike, then screw around for the rest of the evening and enjoy being out of Atlanta for a change.  Hopefully I will get to see a bit of Wes as well outside of racing, but if not, I will be at the finish line waiting for him and Sarah!  Wes and Sarah are doing the half, while Mike and I are doing the Olympic distance.

The nerves and excitement of the first race of the year always get to me.  Not that I am nervous, I just have all this energy I need to direct somewhere.  I cannot believe it is already May.  I will sign up for the VA Highlands SummerFest 5K with Patsy next weekend when I get paid, and then it will be crunch time to sign up for some of the rest of my races for the remainder of the year.  Some of them now are selling out due to popularity, and it gets kinda frustrating for people trying to make ends meet, and pay for race fees without putting them on credit cards and the like.  Ironman was an exception, and I will never regret that, but some of these local races..... :)  Maybe I just need to find some new ones that are under the radar! 

As for the 5K  I am happy that I get to coach Patsy through her first 5K that she is going to run in.  She has done some before, but they were more just for participaing in, and she walked the entire course.  I told her that I would be running her pace throughout the entire event.  This is her race, not mine :)

Weekend workouts went great!  My favorite was the OWS at Lake Allatoona on Saturday morning.  Wes turned me onto it (it is orgainzed by the Concourse Tri Club in Atlanta).  I think there were around 20+ people that showed up and there was support (people in kayaks) and they were very focused on the buddy system, which I thought was pretty cool.  I did just under a mile (probably around 1500M) in just under 29 minutes... I am sure my wetsuit had something to do with that... now if I can just get it off in less than 7 minutes I will beat my only other olympic tri swim time when I did not wear a wetsuit.  Oh and did I mention that 3/4 of the swim in Knoxville is downstream?  Sweet.

I think I have may put down West Pointe on the schedule, but I might X that and then juggle my schedule around for the rest of the season.  I just have a lot of stuff going on right now outside of triathlon, and it is making things diffucult (don't people realize that triathlon is a priority, jusk kidding :).  Either that or I will just scale back and find a sprint that weekend rather than doing another olympic before Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon.

Got the speed laces on my Asics GT-2140's and I have run in my shoes barefoot, a little bit... I am going to get a few more barefoot runs in my shoes before the weekend so my feet are ready for the no socks on bike+no socks on run = janked up feet!!!!!  Probably practice taking off my wetsuit a few times, or make sure there is some COPIOUS amounts of lube on my ankles before the race.

Have any of you guys suffered from pre-race jitters on  your first race of the season?  Let me know!

Cross Training Injury!!!

Good Afternoon!

    So only 7 days into my 2010 training and s#!^ happens!  I was out on Saturday with a whole bunch of friends playing flag football.  Well I don't like to do anything half-assed, so I decide that I am going to try and play like Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson and be some awsome wide receiver.  Well that resulted in a bruised tailbone (which is almost healed as of today), sore neck, huge knot on the back of my head (resulting from a 35-40yd pass I caught in the air and then landed on my back, and my head smacking against the ground so hard other players heard it), and last but certainly not least, a bruised/fractured rib on my right side.  That occured on a play where I dove out for a ball, did not get it and then landed with my right arm under my right side.

     Have any of you ever had a bruised/fractured rib before???  This is my first time and I am not happy about it.  I did some research last night on WebMD and found that it generally takes 6-8 weeks to heal and all you can really do is take pain meds and don't try to be too active............... wait what?!?!!?!  I was going to get on the trainer Sat after the game, but as I was inflating my tires.... hiiisssssssss.... I forgot about the physics of rubber when exposed to freezing temperatures for long durations.  As I removed the pump valve from the tires, it separated the stem from the tube and all the air decided to come out.  At that point I was done for Saturday.  Sunday did not do much because of the pain, yesterday either.  This morning I ran 3 miles on the dreadmill and I basically tolerated the pain.  I have not tried to ride a bike since this happened, and my range of motion is limited with my right arm so no swimming for now (Not to mention more resistance in the water).

     I did not get around to editing the site this weekend, so it will have to wait until next weekend.  I am kinda pissed I already missed a few days, but I am dealing with it.  Take this thing one day at a time (for 6-8 weeks :)

     I am thinking of changing my schedule just a bit.  It turns out quite a few of my friends might do the My First Tri/My Next Tri at Lake Lanier in June.  I don't want to complete that event because I want to compete with them, I just think it would be fun to do an event with lots of people I know.  I think the race with the most people I knew had to only be 3-4 people and a race in the Atlanta area.  This could potentially push 10 people, and not to mention everyone else that is going to come if we have that many people show up.

     As for everything else, i am just working and studying for the GMAT.  I am going to try and get my graduate school application finished by this weekend.  Talk to you soon!

The end of one chapter, the beginning of another (ringing in a new year, new decade, and most importantly new age group!).

Happy New Year's Eve!


I hope that everyone's 2009 was everything they hoped and more. Mine was and was not, for a variety of reasons. Thankfully there was much more good than bad, and that always leads to good things! I have been sitting here all day cleaning, watching football, playing the girlfriend's Wii, and thinking about 2009, and what 2010 might bring.

It's funny, I still get my weekly Site Meter updates, and I see that people do come by and visit, yet I have had nothing new to offer all of you. There was soo much that went on this year, that blogging (and at the end of the year triathlons) simply fell off the map. I put so much time, effort, money, etc, from June 22nd, 2008 - June 21st, 2009, that I got burned out. I did complete the Peachtree City Triathlon again... Kudos to Josh Nickell, he did great! I finished, which is all that really mattered. I planned to do one more race in Gainesville in September, but I injured my ankle about two days before the race. (Kudos to James!! Finished 2nd overall in Masters and 1st in his AG.)

I also miss all of you! Blogging, texting, chatting, participating in races with you, reading your blogs! There was a reason I got all of this started, and I hate to see all of it go to waste.

After that, I pretty much sat on my ass and gained weight (184lbs, about 20 above where I want my race weight to be and 14 from where I usually want to be), let the air slowly seep out of my bike tires, and I just checked the brake lines as of this post to make sure that they weren't rusted (my bike sits outside). Running shoes have been used a handful of times, thankfully all of those were runs. I did buy new speedos finally since my old ones were falling apart, however, the new ones have been used maybe three times. Not to mention that I just went from the 4th or 5th hardest age group to the 3rd, and it only gets worse until I am 50 yrs old!

So as I end this year and this decade, here are a few things that I would like to see (from a triathlon perspective) from 2010!

General Goals
1) Minimum of 5 Triathlons this year (1 half, 2 Olys, 2 Sprints)
2) Minimum of 1 Bike Race/Tour this year (at least a 50 miler)
3) Minimum of 6 Road Races this year (1 marathon, 1 half -mary, 2 10K's, and 2 5k's)
4) Get a team together formally in the Atlanta area, or bring everyone onto an existing team! (I have been talking about this for about 6 months now, and I know enough people to add a big chunk to an existing team, or completely start a new one with about 12 ppl minimum)
5)Blogging - More of it! I might even test some of these products that people are emailing me about, since they are going to send it to me for free, and I can test it for you guys! I will also figure out a way to UPGRADE my blog... I have fallen off the tech bandwagon in the past few years, but i think I can pick it back up!
6)Sign up for IMFL.... How will I do this??? You basically have to take vacation and volunteer! That and I don't want to have to go through the whole flying mess again.
7)Shoot for about 700 hours of actual training this year (does not include stretching/weights/cross training/yoga/etc) in primary activities.


More Specific Goals
1) Finish Marathon in sub 4 hrs (last marathon time was 4:20:18)
2) Finish Half Mary in sub 1 hrs 50 min (last half mary time was 1:53:18)
3) Finish Sprint Tri in sub 1 hr 15 min (PR: 1:16:49)
4) Finish Oly Tri in sub sub 2 hr 45 min (PR 2:56:05)
5) Finish Half Iron in sub 6 hrs (PR 7:25:55, did not train properly for race)
6) Finish 10K in sub 48 min (PR was around 48:46)
7) Finish 5K in sub 21 min (Dont remember what my best time ever was)

Races that I want to participate in/complete this year
Triathlons
1) Rev 3 Triathlon - Knoxville, TN (May 9, 2010) Oly
2) West Point Lake Triathlon - LaGrange, GA (June 13, 2010) Oly
3) Tri the Parks - Mistletoe State Park, Appling, GA (July 24th, 2010) Sprint
4) Peachtree City Sprint Triathlon (August 21st, 2010) Sprint
5) IM August 70.3 - Augusta, GA (September 26, 2010) Half - IM

Road Races
1) ING Georgia Half Marathon - Atlanta, GA (March 21, 2010) Half Mary
2) Sweetwater 420 Fest 5K - Atlanta, GA (April 17th, 2010) 5K
3) Peachtree Road Race - Atlanta, GA (July 4, 2010)
4) Atlanta's Finest 5K - Atlanta, GA (August 8, 2010) 5K
5) US 10K Classic - Smyrna, GA (September 6th, 2010) 10K
6) Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon - Chickamauga, GA (November 13, 2010) Marathon

Cycling Races/Tours
1) Jittery Joe's Fall Century Classic - Athens, GA (October, 2009) - Century Ride

I may have a few others that I slide in there (Christmas 5K race, a sprint tri in April, you know.... some extras), but I will let those be a suprise.

Well now I am off. Dinner calls, and then it is a party to ring in the New Year! I hope all of your are safe this evening! Happy New Year!

~Murtha...

On the Eve on an Eventful (and long awaited) Weekend

This weekend is going to be good.... real good.

This is not to say that my three day weekend last weekend filled with the first weekend of college football (and heading to my alma mater, UGA, for the first game of the season) wasn't great either ;)

I remember just about a year ago (maybe a bit less), there were 3-4 Bloggers (Wil, Stu, Kahuna, Everyman and a few others) that decided to create an organization that focused on the seeming "Everyday Age Grouper."

Team raceAthlete

Anyone could sign up, and share memories, input, tri philosophy, etc. I will quickly admit that I am a tri geek, and an information tri geek at that! I cannot get enough of it. If they were to create a triathlon channel on TV, I would either apply for a job or pay for whatever TV package covered the channel.

Fast forward through the raceAthlete blog archives (as well as coverage on the Tri Geek Dreams PodCast), and there was to be a huge announcement. We all waited in anticipation as the time went by and then it happened. Team raceAthlete was to fully sponsor eight age group triathletes and send them to Ironman Wisconson. People entered, and peeps were selected!!! The eight of you (Stu, Roman, Bolder, Tracy, Brett, Michelle, Tyler, and Chris) have shared your journey and experiences with us since that fateful week, and I for one have thoroughly enjoyed reading/listening to your journey(s). From sponsored schwag and gear to team training trips and group race events, we were able to watch the progression of eight age groupers and what their potential would be come race day.

Well, race day is upon us folks!!! I for one am super exicted. I for one will be out of commission for the best part of the race (the bike portion), and so I will catch all of you on athlete tracker during the swim and the marathon. Good luck to all of you this weekend, we are rooting for you.

I too have a race this weekend. This is the third year in my participation of the Tri-PTC, a sprint distance event. This was my very first race. Although there are some really other good races around, I have an attachment to this race for nostalgic and sentimental reasons. I have improved year after year in this race, and some of my closest friends usually attend. Last year I had almost 15 people show up to cheer me on, it was really fun! Maybe down the road, I will switch up to a bigger race either in or out of town, but until my life changes gears, I will be competing in this race for the time being.

I am contemplating signing up for one more race, a race that I competed in last year (Emerald Pointe Tri - Sprint).

After that, it is the off season and training for the Atlanta Half - Mary on Thanksgiving Day.

Just under 23 hours to go. I geeked up for the weekend, how about the rest of team raceAthlete???

Murtha...

2007 West Pointe Triathlon Race Report, LaGrange GA, 8/26/2007

How to start? From the beginning I suppose.

For those of you who have actually read my blog (about 2 people, just kidding ;), you know that this year has not been my best year. Why? Because life happens. It happens to all of us. How does it concern this race report? Well, let's just say I was a bit worried going into this race. I have trained much more the second half of this season than the first half, but still short of what I set out to do (for the South Carolina Half I wanted to enter). Taper was a bit extreme, I think I completed 5 workouts in the two weeks prior to this race.

I was planning to drive down straight after work on Saturday, pick up my race packet, and scope out the entire course the night before. Needless to say this did not work out as planned, and so James (Badass duathlete and triathlete that is my boss at Wolfgang) and I left at 5pm after he got off of work to head down to LaGrange. We checked in at the hotel (Days Inn), and there was a glitch with the reservation. I find this really amusing since I booked the hotel online directly through Days Inn and not some 3rd party travel website. It was no problem though, and James and I hurriedly put our gear up in the room and headed down to the race site to check out the swim and the bike (we would not have time for the run since it had gotten so dark...).

The swim course had drastically changed due to the extreme low lake level instead of going around the peninsula, it went out and back like a V-shape. Also the last bouy (turn bouy) seemed way too far out, as if getting to the turn bouy in itself was 1500M. We later found out the next morning that it had drifted due to the current. We were very happy with transition, for it satisfied three things I like; small, flat, and direct in and out (there was only one main lane in transition and racks were on either side).

We scoped the bike, and loved it. There were two sections where it was somewhere between 2-3 miles of downhill = BIG GEARS!!! The rest of the course was nothing but rollers, and manageable ones at that. We then headed to some country buffett restaurant and loaded up on nutrition for the next morning.

James and I got back and immediately packed our transition bags and tweaked our bikes a bit (nothing major I swear). Wes called and said that he and his wife Dee Dee were on their way down but would not be there until late. He jokingly told me not to mess with my bike, that I was breaking one of the cardinal rules of racing in triathlons.... he he he:) After that we finally got settled down and went to bed just before 11pm.

Race Morning
Alarm went off at 4:30am. I cannot tell you how good it felt not to have to get up 1-2 hours earlier to drive to an event. I might just do this more often. James and I got our gear together, downed our morning fuel (for me it was two Nature Nalley bars, a handful of gummi bears, 1 GU gel, and lots of water), packed our gear back into the cars, and checked out of the hotel. I think that is the second shortest time I have been in a hotel. We took the freeway (which I had to research the directions, they wanted us to take the back roads through LaGrange on GA Multisport's website) and it took about 20 minutes to get to the race site. We walked in the dark just over half a mile to the transition and check in. James already had his packet, so he went in and I went to number pick up to get my stuff. Sometimes I hate how procedural things are. Think about it. Your hands are already almost full when you get your race number and goodie bag (if you do it the morning of the race), and then you go back to get "numbered." Then with your hands full they tell you that your number needs to be on your helmet, and your bike number needs to be on your bike before you enter transition. Needless to say, my helmet number fell off within half a mile of starting, and my bike number folded up so you could not see it when I was riding my bike.

Pre Race
After setting up in transition, I helped James with his tubulars on his bike (Xentis Mark 1 wheels), and then it was chill out time before the race. More water and what? No bathroom break! C'mon body! Be cooperative with me! Wes got there around 6:30am (I think) and told us that the lady at the hotel gave good directions except for one road she told them to veer off too early! He was kind of in a hurry setting up the bike, however, it seemed that he got everything set up ok. I introduced Wes to James and we talked for a few moments before heading over to the swim start. Got bit by a fire ant on the way over. Great, so this is how my race is going to be. I did a 200 M warmup, and I drafted, off a girl who ended up getting 3rd place (I think in female overall), just for practice. Got out of the water and Wes, James and I talked and waited until the race began.

The Swim
James was in the group behind us, and Wes started right in front of me. Staggered starts, two at a time, every two seconds. This was probably the best feeling swim I had next to Gulf Coast last year. No breast stroking, no stopping, no running out of breath, etc... It was a good feeling all around. Near the turn bouy I saw James pass me in the water, and I could tell by his facial expression that he knew he was passing me. I am ok with that. James' worst day is better than my best day ;) Oh No!!! Now I have to go!!! No problem, I just sped up in the lake for about 24-26 strokes and took care of business. I did not feel guilty since I started towards the back of the race and I was swimming wide to avoid people. My apologies to anyone out there who ended up behind me. Wes, James, and Renee were all ok since they either started before me or passed me. Towards the end of the swim I kicked like I was supposed to and felt good running into T1

T1
Sub 1 minute !!!! Yeah!!! The cooler part is that I wimped out, usually I don't secure my shoes on my feet until I am on the bike, but this time I did it while i was in T1. Dee Dee was there to cheer me on as I was leaving T1 onto the bike course.

The Bike
I felt really ready for this portion, since I knew ahead of time what I was getting myself into. It felt kind of lonely on the bike for this race, due to the number of entrants and the fact I was one of the latter people out of the water. I wasted about 30 seconds (going slower) getting my Garmin on my wrist on the bike. Due to going uphill and not being in the proper gear I was not going to risk falling over for my watch. I paced myself for the first mile or so, and then went to town. The only thing I regret is not pushing harder. My max HR on the bike was only 177bpm and that includes the two small hills on ther ride. I can say for the positive though, I kept my cadence fairly steady and pushed when I needed to push. I think after what has happened in the last couple of races, I wanted to make sure I had some left in me for the run. Between miles 6.5 and 9 there was a nice downhill, and after making the turn from an area where we doubled back there was also another nice downhill. I did not pass too many people on the bike since I started from the rear of the race, however, everyone I passed was going uphill except for three people I passed going downhill. WTF is up with that??? I do admit I got passed once going downhill, but the guy was flying and probably averaged 23mph or more during the bike. Aid station was great, and with the aero bottle that James let me borrow, it was perfect. There were two men on the bike whom I played cat and mouse with and finally beat both of them with about 4 miles to go, only to have one of them pass me on the run. I was out of my shoes with about 100M to go and ready to get off. They were really big on wanting us to slow down before the dismount line (I mean like slow enough to fall off your bike). They also wanted me to dismount off my bike 50 feet before the dismount line, and I was not having any of it. They could try to penalize me for all I care I was staying on until I had to get off. I had a few GI issues with my Accelerade and GU on the ride (I could not finish all my Accelerade because of it). I also waited about an extra 10 minutes to take down my last GU. I really wish I would have finished the rest of my Accelerade, since I had some cramping issues on the latter half of the run.

T2
Just a hair over 1 minute in T2. Was due to having problems getting shoes on damp feet and getting race belt, etc, everything else on. NO SOCKS!!!! More to come on this later...

The Run
After the adjustments I had made to my bike in the weeks preceeding the race and the results I had on brick workouts, I was exicited. No more cramping up within the first half mile of the run, no problems with heavy legs. The great thing about the run course is there was only a small amount of elevation and it was at the very beginning/end of the run (since it was a loop). I think there were 7/8 aid stations over the 10K distance. I averaged 8:45 for the first mile or two, and then I began slowing down. I knew I would not be able to keep up that pace for the entire run, but I had to try. Just after mile 2 I had to give a big shout out to a Tri DAWGS girl. I saw Wes about half a mile from the turn around, and he told me that I better pass him. That was motivation until I got to the turn, where I stopped to walk so I could take in some Gatorade Endurance. I did not take in my GU because of my GI issues earlier on the bike, and that was probably a mistake, since all I had in my bottle I was carrying during the run was 2 tables of NUUN. While good for electrolytes, bad for no calories!!! I began to cramp up in both my quads all the way back in, and I knew I would not be able to dial it up enough to get up and meet with Wes for the finish. I now had to work on finishing myself. There was a second area where I walked for about 60 quick steps and that was up a very short hill that just kicked up in elevation. I knew that I would not be actually running any faster if I jogged up the hill, so I opted to powerwalk instead. For the last two miles there was a female wearing an All3Sports jersey, and I decided that she was running just fast enough to be my "rabbit" for the rest of the race. I really need to thank her, or else I might have not finished as fast (and might not have finished in under three hours either). I finally passed her with about six tenths of a mile to go, and at the finish line she caught back up to me. Wes was walking back to watch me come down the final stretch and told me he had come in about 4-5 minutes before I did. Dee Dee was there to congratulate me at the finish!!! James had gotten done so long ago (finished in around 2 hours 22 min) that he went ahead and took his stuff back to the car and then came back. Wes, Dee Dee and I chatted about the race for a few minutes, got some food/drink, and chatted a few more minutes about their son's soccer tournament that was going on. James met back up with me in transition to help me carry my stuff out and back to the car. After packing the car, we walked back to catch prelimiary results and I was excited to see that I broke 3 hours, and that James finished in the top ten of his AG (7th in 40-44).

Post Race
My hat is also off to Team Sport Factory (and Jen Adley, I think she finished 3rd in her AG) for a strong showing, as well as my Tri DAWGS!!! If they would have been around when I was in college, I would have soo been on the team! Also a shout out goes to Renee, who finished 5th in her AG!!! Congrats to you all! Thanks for the pics Dee Dee! Wes you were awsome! And congratuations to James, although he is not on the blogging scene, he did great!

Only two small blisters on the bottom of my feet when wearing no socks. I will have to admit though, I was still wearing my old shoes, and not my new ones. This was because I had not put my yankz on my new shoes yet.

Times
13th/18 in AG, 215/335(people who actually raced)

Swim: 35:52
T1: :53
Bike: 1:18:26
T2: 1:01
Run: 59:55
______
Tot: 2:56:05

11 days until Tri - PTC!!! Sprint race that was my very first race I ever completed. This will be my third year competing in the event. I think I am going to focus on threshold and speed workouts for the next two weeks since the distances are so short, and I also need to work on maintaining my speed during a race this short.

With respect to completion of my first Olympic Distance Triathlon, I really liked this format a lot. I feel that this gives you a very good gauge of 1/2 and full iron distance races, and you only need to train just a bit more than for a sprint distance event. I think I might change my format to include more of those next year, and be very selective if I do any sprint races at all next year. I loved this course as well!

I am ready to read all the posts from all the races that happened this weekend! I have already read a few, and I am waiting on some peeps that finished IM Louisville.

Murtha...

Ironman Florida 70.3!!!

Registrations for this year have finally begun!!

I decided that I would get some more motivation over the past weekend by actually signing up for some of my races. I looked at my calendar, looked at my work schedule, days off, etc, and came up with my first couple of races for the year.

I am going to have to update my blog for my 2007 schedule, as well as my time countdown clock.

Here we go

Tri the Parks (Georgia) Series Race #1 - John Tanner State Park, Carollton, GA
April 28th

Ironman Florida 70.3 - Orlando, FL
May 20th

I still have one more race to sign up for in this timeline, and that is the "5 boroughs bike tour" in New York. This is May6th. You might be asking if that is too close to IMFL 70.3? Maybe but it is not a serious race. It is a leisurely 42 mile bike ride through all the 5 boroughs, and it is not supposed to be a race unless you are in the pro race circut. I have never actually been to New York before, so I thought it would be a good experience.

My next leg for the year will be completing the Peachtree Road race (assuming I get signed up for it) on July 4th. I will schedule no races during this time so I get about two months off until my next set of races that will run me from August until the South Carolina Half Ironman in October.

This will set me up for my 2008 season, where I will actually complete an Ironman! I will have to sign up for the event in 2007 due to the popularity of the Ironman North America series. I mean, this is Kentucky's first year, and they sold out fast. IMFL sold out in an hour. I really do not want to wait until late in the year in 2008 (i.e. IMFL) to complete a full Ironman, so I will have to look to other races to complete. Maybe Arizona! I could go hang with the Commodore if he completes it in 2008, and my family would only be a 3 hour drive away from the event, and my grandparents would be in Mesa.

Also, I know I am jumping the gun here, but depending on how far down the top 8-10 slots for my age group in IMFL 70.3 go, there is a slight chance I could qualify for Clearwater (IM 70.3 championships) in October. I am not going to be in the top 10 in my age group, but the other issue is that not everyone that finishes the race before me will want to (or have the money to) go to Clearwater. Last year it got all the way down to 5 hours and 40 minutes in my age group before the last person took the final slot.

If this happens, then obviously I will be sub'ing Clearwater for the South Carolina HIM. We shall see.....

Murtha...