St. Anthony's Triathlon

So, the Winchesters loaded up the fun, 'ol fashion, four wheel sleigh and pointed it south for about 580 miles. My mom, dad, one brother and I took off for a nice road trip/race/mini vacation, and it was a wonderful weekend.

The drive down was uneventful, which is nice, and we were all eager to get to Florida. We arrive on Friday before the race, and we all take a quick nap before heading down the race site for a warm up (I was the only one racing, but I use 'we' because if it were not for my family, I wouldn't be there!). I shook the legs out with a little spin and jog, followed by saying hello to the Quintana Roo and ISM (thank you for the photo!) guys. Afterwards, we joined a great friend, athlete, and coach Marc Bonnet-Eymard and a few others for a nice dinner. I had some wine, and I think I'm on to something for pre race relaxation. Normally, I'm wound up tighter than a (euphemism of choice here), but just a little red wine seemed to help me pump my cerebral brakes.

Wash, rinse, repeat for Saturday, and next thing I know, it's race morning. I get in a nice warm up, and decided to walk to the swim start as opposed to swimming across the marina like most other pros do. In retrospect, I maybe should have gotten in a better swim warm up. The cannon blows, and we're off. I settle into a decent rhythm, but never really got to motoring. I hop on Lolita, and I'm ready to ride. Things were going well up until about mile 10, when uber-cyclist David Thompson passes me, and a minute or two later a marshall comes by and asks me to stand down. What does this mean? Well basically, regardless of the distance of the pro in front of you, you must be on the other side of the lane as him. Well, David was a good 30 meters up the road, and in a roughly 20mph crosswind, it was difficult to judge where he was. So, I was penalized for the first time in my career. I couldn't change the outcome, so I put my head down and hammered after coming to a complete stop, waiting 60 secs, then resuming. All in all, the penalty probably cost me over two minutes on the bike. I rode hard, which took a little wind out of my running sails, but I ran as hard as I could, passing a few guys to finish 18th Pro. I hate to say "would've, should've or could've," but I know that penalty cost me close to three minutes.

Coach Tim and I have been putting a move on training since St. A's, and next stop is Rev3 in Knoxville, TN this weekend. Hopefully, I won't have such a look of pain aboard Lolita this weekend, as pictured above.

Until next time,