Unfortunately my first trip of the US season to St. Petersburg, Florida didn't really turn out like I had expected. Flying in on Friday before the race the trip over didn't go smoothly at all with lots of little hick ups and time wasting. Finally after travelling all day I arrived at my friends Philippe & Lisa's house just before dinner.
We woke up on Saturday to high winds and lower than usual temperatures. Everyone was convinced the wind would die down by Sunday morning in time for the race .... it didn't! On Sunday morning we woke up in the dark to a chilly, windy morning. As the sun rose down at transition we knew it was going to be a tough race because the water looked like the ocean, it was really choppy!
I had a shocker of a swim leg and swallowed a heap of water throughout the 1500m. I felt comfortable and swam with most of the guys I usually would in the lead pack at races but to my surprise when we got out if the water the race announcer was calling us a minute down!!! I couldn't believe it .... I didn't realise with all the choppy water a group had swam away from us. So I got on the bike and tried to push hard over the first few kilometers but I felt very, very average. I couldn't get my heart rate up, I felt lethargic and just tired! I preceeded to drop back through the field to depths I never had before. In the end I was over 6 minutes down on the leaders off the bike ... a number I had never heard before in an olympic distance race! I started running well but again I couldn't push it to the intensity I wanted. I picked up a few spots but still finished way, way back in a very dissapointing 18th place. The only consilation was I got a race under my belt, got the feel for racing again and got a bit of training in for St. Croix next weekend. I am going to put it down to all the travelling we have done in the past week and all the time changes, so I expect to be 100% next Sunday for the 70.3.
We had a great afternoon with the Mad Dog triathlon club on Sunday after the race. They put on a BBQ and a keg of beer and we sat around the pool meeting a bunch of people which was great. Clarky and I are off to St. Croix early in the morning. Looking forward to getting back there and seeing Cat, Brad and their 17 month old daughter Milan. Carribean here we come!!!
