Escape to Miami Triathlon

ESCAPE….

Doing a sprint triathlon was put on my bucket list a couple of years ago…. I received an mass email from our Employee Wellness Department  sometime at the end of May or beginning of June asking all employee’s who were interested in participating in the 2012 Escape to Miami Triathlon in September to reply  to the email and their name would be entered in a drawing for 1 of 15 free registrations to the event.  I figured I had nothing to lose, responded to the email and waited. Now, I’m not going to say that I never win anything, because I’ve won a couple of things in my life. What I will say is that statistically speaking, my drawing entries to wins ratio has not been the greatest. About a week later I received an email saying I'd won and a got a special code for free registration. I thought this win was a sign of some sort, a calling, a challenge, meant to be in some way. I didn’t register for the triathlon until almost a month later.

Why the  month wait? Anyone who knows me, knows that I had to do my research. Since this was my first triathlon, I was pretty clueless as to all the little details. I knew I would swim, bike, and run… yes in that order, and I knew the distances for the sprint,  ¼ mile swim, 13 mile bike ride, and 5 (3.1 mile) run. I even went to the website, and read the USA Triathlon rulebook. Swim and run were pretty clear. Biking rules…. Not so much. I must admit, the bike rules were pretty intimidating; drafting, passing, seems like it is very easy to get in trouble with the bike. There wasn't even much information about the drafting rules on YouTube.  Once I started looking at some of my needs for the event… triathlon suit, goggles, bike helmet,racing belt, chip strap, etc. I also had to consider training needs, access to a pool for swimming & a bike (which I did not have at the time). I called a few bike shops to see about renting a road bike…. $80 per day OUCH! I started to notice, even though I won a free registration, this event was not going to be cheap. Other then running, it seemed like practicing biking and swimming would be extremely expensive and difficult.  It came to the point that I said forget it I can’t do it, I didn’t have the resources to train appropriately. My conscious (me)  and my voice of reason (my wife) wouldn’t  allow it.


The Official Escape Course

A friend of mine that I train with offered to lend me a bike for which I was truly grateful for. I took the bike for a tune up and quickly learned that the bike was too small for me and the people at the bike shop recommended that I did not use it. I was back in the same boat, no bike. By this time I was committed to the event and I broke down and bought a bike. Next issue to tackle was the pool. I used a couple of free membership trials from LA Fitness and 24Hr fitness and used the pool there. When those free passes ran out, 24Hr hour offered me $25 a month with no initiation fee, so I used 24 Hour Fitness for my swim training. I've been consistently running along with weight and circuit training for the last year and a half or so and had to find somewhere to add in swimming and biking to my routine. I got down to the nitty gritty 5 weeks prior to the race. I did 2 a days for those 5 weeks. Monday - Friday was weights with the second workout alternating between swimming, biking, or running. Saturday was an off day, well I should say scuba diving day. Sunday was a block training day and I practiced bike followed directly by running. I always just worked with the required distances for race, no more, no less. It was important for me to make the training sessions short and to the point. I also didn't want to sacrifice losing muscle mass from doing too much cardio. In an event like this I felt it's important to be well rounded in all three aspects of the race. You can be the greatest runner but, if you're a crappy swimmer and biker, you wouldn't do as well as someone who is good at all three. This is what I really focused on, not being the best runner, swimmer, or biker but being consistent at all three. I also took the advice of several others and made sure to do open water swimming. They harped that there was a big difference and they were right. Pool water is less dense than salt water making it more difficult to stay buoyant, there were walls for you to hold onto if you got tired or you could just stand up and rest. Open water, while buoyancy is great, it was more difficult to propel yourself than in the pool again because again salt water is more dense. I preferred the open water. I felt claustrophobic in the pool and got annoyed having to stop and turn around every 25 meters in the pool. I am extremely comfortable in the water, the fact that there were no walls to hold onto to rest didn't bother me. Don't need walls and I don't need rest for a 1/4 mile.

I stopped all heavy training 3 days before the race,  2 days prior I worked on nothing more than transition time.  Especially getting ready to bike after the swim. I went through how to setup my bike pen, worked out every little detail regarding placement of sunglasses, helmet, socks, shoes, drink, GU packs, race belt, towel,  and the sequence on when to do everything. Bike to running for me is a non issue because all I have to do is take off my helmet and get off the bike. Some people use bike shoes and running shoes and would have to change shoes transitioning between bike and run. I don't have any special bike shoes, and will be wearing running shoes when biking. On the day before the event expo, I tried to sleep in as long as possible because I was certain I would be getting much sleep the night before the race. It was storming out, so my whining dogs prevented sleep. I had to attend the pre-race expo at some point between 12p - 6p to drop off my bike in the transition area, pick up my timing chip, get marked with my race number.

I got up around 7:30a, let the dogs out and ate. Began the carb loading. Meal 1: 4 whole eggs, 1 cup of oatmeal, and 1 TBS of peanut butter. I cleaned my bike, checked tire pressure and made sure it was in a medium gear, so when I transitioned from the swim, I could start hauling ass as soon as I got to pedaling. Ate meal 2: 1 Cup of Greek Yogurt and a large banana. We left for the expo around 12:30 after the rain stopped.

The expo was well organized, checked my bike and got my race number and age sharpied on my skin, # 2778 & 37 respectfully. I was happy with my pen location, 1 row away from the bike exit. I really lucked out there. I've heard several horror stories about people not being able to find their bike in the confusion and rush of transitioning. Scouted out the course which is like a U, the transition area and swim is in the middle. The bike is to the left and involves 2 trips over  Julia Tuttle Causeway Bridge which is huge, not to mention the other large bridge that is on the Julia Tuttle Causeway and one trip over the Alton Road on-ramp, 5 Climbs in total on the bike.  After the bike you return back to the middle, then the run is to the right. The run takes you over the McArthur Causeway Bridge, equally as intimidating as the the Julia Tuttle. You turn around by star island and head to the finish line. I also stopped by the biking clinic, to help clear up a few biking rules. The clinic wasn't too helpful, asked a question about the bike drafting rules and the guy running the clinic advised me to ask the head official. I never found him / her. Lastly, I picked up my timing chip said goodnight to my bike and went to eat my 3rd meal 6 oz chicken breast, large sweet potato, and salad.


Transition Area

Dropping of the Bike



After we ate, the weather turned to shit again and it started down pouring. I was wondering how the weather was going to be tomorrow. I was thinking to myself. I hope the bay water is choppy and rough. Why? It's an advantage to me, like I said before I am confident and comfortable in the water, I know others are not. Even though rough water would make the swim much more difficult for all, including me, it would wreck havoc on most participant's ability to remain focused. I also thought it would be interesting doing all thing with the wind and rain. What ever Mother Nature has in store for tomorrow. I am focused, determined, mentally and physically strong. I am ready for whatever is placed in front of me.


When we got home I got my transition bag together, double checked to make sure I got everything, prepared 2 small water bottles and a large bottle for on the bike with monster aminos and took a 30 minute power nap. When I woke up from my nap my wife and son got me a little gift, a headband with the letters B.A.M.F (Bad A$@ Mutha F$@&!) on it. It was time to eat again, went to the Fritanga (Nicaraguan resturant) and got some Carne Asada and I made some whole wheat pasta, spinach, and tomato sauce.  I tried to go to bed early, wasn't too optimistic about getting any sleep though.




The Bike Pen

Alarm was set for 4:40a. Woke up ate breakfast which was a cup of oatmeal mixed with protein powder, and a banana. Showered, put on the Zoot  (triathlon suit), made my last minute checks, kissed my wife and was on my way to Margareth Pace Park. I got there around 6:00a, went right to the transition area and set up my pen like I practiced. Shoes, socks, helmet, sunglasses, race belt, amino energy drinks, GU, all had a  specific place and order. My cheering section (family) arrived around 7:15a and we hung out and watched the swimming leg of triathletes doing the full olympic race. They called for the sprint participants to meet where our swim leg begins at about 8:15 or so. Got my good luck hugs and kisses and headed to the swim area. They went ofer the rules, and played the national anthem. I was in the 6th wave, the last group. We started right on schedule 9am.




The water was perfect, not too cold and it didn't feel like soup either which is normal for Miami during the summer. It was a little choppy and we would be swimming into some current. I was anxious and focused, no one was talking, it was strictly business at this point. On your mark....get set.... (Horn) started walking quickly until the water was deep enough to swim and away I went. I heard all kinds of horror stories about the swim and they were all true. It was a cluster. The water can be very disorientating to begin with, and it's compounded by the number of people in a relatively small  area, arms flaring and legs kicking like they are swimming away from a shark. I took a couple of good kicks to the head and face, got caught up in a few swimmers strokes and got my head pushed under water from getting caught in their arms. I had to make a couple brief stops just to allow a little distance between me and the swimmers in front of me. I came to the end of the swim, and when I stood up I was very disorientated and dizzy for a few seconds, started running towards the shore, removing my swim cap and goggles. I hauled ass to the transition area, which was a couple hundred yards away, playing out the sequence of transitioning to the bike in my mind.

.25 Swim Time: 12:25 / 1st Transition Time: 2:38



6th Wave Starting!


Catching up and passing people in the 4th & 5th wave.

 

Swim Over, a little disorientated

 

Running to the transition area





 

Finishing the biking leg.

Started the biking leg, You have to run with the bike out of the transition area and mount the bike in a certain area.  Some people just getting on the bike were coasting, I was peddling. No playing around, I felt I needed to get a great time on the bike since it was the longest leg of the race. I came up on the Julia Tuttle Causeway Bridge which was very intimidating. Dropped the gear on the bike, stood up, and peddled hard. Made it to the top, and what surprised me is others were just letting gravity coast them down the other side of the bridge, they were drinking, catching their breath. I took advantage put the bike in a higher gear and began passing people like crazy, according to my bike computer I hit 33 mph. A mile or so after the Julia Tuttle was another large bridge that took you to Miami Beach, not as big as the Julia Tuttle, but no piece of cake either. I attacked this bridge the same way, dropping gears and peddling up, raising gears and peddling down.  Made it to the turnaround point somewhere on Alton Road in Miami Beach and headed back, there was another small bridge actually a freeway on ramp to get back on the expressway. Had to tackle those 2 big bridges again and used the same plan of attack. Kinda funny, on my way back I was flying down one of the bridges and a Miami Beach police officer on a motorcycle, who was working at the event, told me to slow down as I was passing him. I smiled told him I'll take a ticket if need be. He smiled, gave me a thumbs up, and I never looked back. I made it back to the transition area re-racked my bike and transitioned for the run. I was pretty happy with my bike performance. Averaged close to 19mph.

13 mile bike Time: 42:55 / 2nd Transition Time: 2:13

1st of 2 Bridges on The  Julia Tuttle Causeway

 

The run, which I considered my strongest point, ended up being my weakest today. I block trained several times over the past month 13 mile ride and 5K, each time my run was between 26-28 minutes.  After the bike, I grabbed my custom made BAMF headband and as I was running out of transition and  I could feel my quads throb in pain, I knew within a minute of starting the run, this part of the race will be more mental than physical. I was missing my iPod (against the USA Triathlon rules to use them) music helps me to ignore the discomfort. I began pushing through the pain and discomfort. It was disappointing, my heart rate was steadily in the high 150's as it was for most of the race (higher for the bridges) and I had more to give cardiovascular wise, the pain in my quads where slowing me down. Adding to the discomfort, was the run over the McArthur Causeway bridge which was  equal in size to the Julia Tuttle Bridge. Pushed up, coasted down, turned around about a 1/2 mile down, and had to tackle the McArthur Causeway again. As I came up on the finish line and as people where cheering, I did my usual sprint to the finish, even though it wasn't much of a sprint. I crossed the finish line was handed a bottle of water and stopped a few to catch my breath, turned in my timing chip which was worn around my ankle, got my finishers medal and was greeted by my family who were all smiling!

5K Run Time: 33:16.


Almost Done!

3/4 of  the McArthur Causeway Bridge, Ran this twice.

Total Time: 1:33:24, Ranked 10th in my division, finished 190th out of 900 + sprint distance competitors and includes all age groups and gender divisions. Not too bad for a first timer.

The Finish Line

Escape Shirt and Finishers Medal

Now that I've got my 1st Triathlon in the books, I've begun to reflect on my training for the past 5 weeks and on the Triathlon itself. I believe I did a lot of things right and some things wrong. As for the training part, I  will be running and biking on causeway bridges more often. I felt that not practicing more on those bridges really hurt me. I could also need work on the swim and I plan to do more swimming on the open water and work on better stroke and breathing techniques. Tri-Beach at Key Biscayne here I come. I also spent too much time in transition, Transitioning is hard to practice. I thought I had my transitions down, but my nerves and adrenalin, made thinking difficult.  The other mistake I think I made during training is I put too much emphasis on the times of the winner of my division last year. I should have just focused on continual improvement and trained to beat those times rather than just meet those times. As for the Triathlon itself, I had a blast, it was a great test of mental and physical strength. Even though I was disappointed with my run, I knew I left it all on the course, I had nothing left to give, I had no regrets, and no doubt that I gave it my all. One thing that also really impressed me is that the event was very well organized and the people who participated and those that were there to support their loved ones were phenomenal. They supported and cheered for everyone. Even the athletes on the course, I heard them one several occasions offering support and encouragement to those athletes who where slowing down, or quitting. It was really impressive to see that during a competition. I guess people do triathlons for several reasons, whether it be to compete, overcome something that has happened to them, to prove something to others,  themselves, or any other form of self validation. To most it wasn't about winning it was about finishing! Looking forward to the next triathlon that comes to South Florida.... I'm in!

One more thing I learned, and this is very IMPORTANT! Bring your own toliet paper! Couldn't find a sheet of toliet paper to save your life. People were in a panic! Luckily I had wipies in the car. I was considering selling a few sheets. Maybe next year I'll have the boys set up a stand. 1 wipe for $3 or 2 for $5. They'd make a killing