Cape Henlopen Triathlon 2015

The Cape Henlopen triathlon is held at the state park in Cape Henlopen, Delaware.  The triathlon was previously held in October but the weather was terrible the last two years so the race has been moved to June.  We has a thunder and lightning storm pass through while we were setting up in transition.  The race director kept announcing the swim was delayed and might be canceled but he wanted us to leave transition and head down to the beach.  Naturally, everyone stayed in transition until the race director announced the "all clear" for the ocean swim.  Then we had to hurry to the ocean which is rather far away.  I was told to leave a pair of shoes along the path to wear back after the swim. This was my first ocean swim triathlon and I wasn't sure what to expect.

We barely made it to the starting line when the race director showed up and said 10 seconds, go, go, go!  We had so swim through the waves to the buoy, then swim parallel to the shore until we made it to the last buoy and then head for the beach.  It wasn't to bad of a swim.  My wife yelled that Robert Hartman was 50 seconds ahead of me.

I made it through the dunes to the path, removed my wet suit, put on my shoes and ran for transition.  Wearing shoes was worth the extra seconds it took to put them on.

The rest of the race went well and on the run I was able to chase down Robert Hartman to win my Age Group.

Tri-It Festival 2015

Today was the Tri-It Festival, the fourth Piranha Sports event in 2015.  I had the fourth fastest bike split today which made up for my slow swim and transition times.  I finished first in my Age Group  today but Robert Hartman didn't race so I don't feel like I actually won.

 

Independence Triathlon 2015

Today was the third Piranha Sports triathlon of 2015 and I finished second in my Age Group.

It was a sprint to the finish line.

Rob Hartman (first place finisher) likes to jump off the podium.

New Jersey Devilman Triathlon 2015

Today's New Jersey Devilman triathlon kicked off the Piranha-Sports triathlon races for 2015.  The first weekend of May is not likely to be warm and it's too early in the year to have warm water for the swim.  It turned out to be a nice day for racing but the water was cold!

Southern New Jersey is flat and the bike course was 20.5 miles long so today was all about getting aero and pedalling fast.  I was able to make up time from my swim and finished the bike course with an average speed of 20.86 MPH.

The run course was an odd distance of 4 miles.  Since it was an out and back run course it could easily have been set up as a 5K.  Anyway, I had a good run and finished the race 2nd in my Age Group.

Upper Mainline YMCA Triathlon 2015

Today I returned to the place where it all started.

In 2010 I came to the Upper Mainline YMCA to take swimming lessons and this is where I had my first triathlon in 2011.  This year there was a new race director and they put into place a new system for the swim.  In years past we submitted an estimated swim time and people with similar guesses were assigned swim waves based on their guess.  If everyone had an accurate guess the waves finished together and the pool was available for the next wave.  The theory was great but reality didn't work well and as the day progressed the swim waves were delayed.  This year we started one at a time and swam down one lane and crossed under the lane divider.  Then we swam back in the next lane and continued this process until we completed 10 laps.  This actually worked well except I had never practiced crossing under the lane divider so I was not very efficient switching lanes.

The new swim procedure created an issue for the bike leg of the triathlon.  Since everyone finished the swim as an individual we were spaced far apart on the road.  I didn't catch up to the slow cyclists until I reached the hilly section of the bike course.  I had a good bike split and a good run split too.  I finished 15th overall and 1st in my Age Group.

Garden Spot Village Half Marathon 2015

It's been a long time since I updated the blog.  A lot of changes in my life make it doubtful I will have time to train for any more full distance triathlons.  So for 2015 I signed up for the Piranha Sports season pass (11 sprint triathlons) and I added some additional triathlons to make it 15 triathlons for 2015.

I started the 2015 season with the Garden Spot Village Half Marathon.   This is my second year to race this event and it's become one of my favorite events.  It's less than one hour from my house, it has plenty of free parking and they have race day check in and bib pick up.

I finished the race in 1:47:47 which was a new PR for me and I finished in 3rd place in my Age Group.  I look forward to running this event in 2016.

Ironman Maryland 2014

I hope my race day breakfast isn't an indication of how the day will proceed.

The swim was tougher then I expected.  The boat ramp narrowed as it went into the water and it was difficult to break free of the crowd to start swimming.  The first turn buoy was pretty close to the boat ramp and that made for lots of physical contact with the other swimmers.  I stopped once to clear my goggles and after the sun came out the goggles were fine.  The water wasn't as choppy as it was on Friday during practice but there was a little bit of current pushing me around.  I can swim a straight line in open water but I kept running into other swimmers that couldn't swim straight.

No issues with T1

The HR monitor showed really low numbers when I started out on the bike course.  I tried messing with the strap while I was riding but gave up until I stopped for a bathroom break.  Once I had the HR strap situated properly it worked well.  Later I noticed the HR numbers were dropping but my speed and cadence were holding steady.  I felt fine and I couldn't figure out what to do to fix the issue while riding.  I thought the battery might be low on power but the battery wasn't that old.  I just went by speed, cadence and gut feeling.

I received my first penalty out on the bike course at mile 90.  I was riding on the shoulder of a road that had rumble stripes along the edge of the road to “wake up” drivers that drift off the road.  Bike riders had to time their pass so they cut through the gaps in the rumble stripes.  I was just about to pass a rider when I was passed.  I pulled out behind that rider and passed the rider ahead of me.  I moved right after passing the rider but I was still behind the guy that had passed me.  That is when the official showed up on the motorcycle and said I was receiving a penalty for drafting.

T2, I was almost under the arch at transition when I realized I had run past the penalty tent.  I ran back to wait out my 4 minutes.  I didn't have any issues with this transition.

This photo was taken at the start of the run.  

My goal was to complete the run before dark and to be fast enough that I didn’t receive a glow stick.  I was tired when I left transition and I tried different foods and drinks but nothing restored my energy.  I walked and ran off and on during my 26.2 mile run.  I tried to hook up with other runners but when I said "let's run to that sign" they would resume walking when we got to the sign.  Around mile 18 I started drinking coke and water at every aid station and eventually I felt energized.  I finally found my legs and ran more then I walked.  I was planning to slowly cross the finish line but someone was gaining on me so I sprinted to the finish line.

I felt better about my race in Maryland than I did in Lake Placid.  In Maryland I was 20th in my age group but I would have to knock off 2 hours to win my age group.

My second Ironman triathlon is in the books.