Posts Tagged ‘Florida 70.3’

FLorida 70.3 Race Recap

Well, the season is now underway and I found out the painful way that I have lots of work to do! I decided just 2 weeks ago that I would head to Florida for the 70.3 Triathlon. I had to take a big break from running and swimming over the past few months to heal some injuries, so I knew going into the race that my fitness was lacking. I was eager to race and wanted a good tune up race before the Long Course National Championships at Eagleman 70.3 in 3 weeks, so I decided to give it a go, test my fitness and just be happy to be healthy and racing again.

The field was stacked with some of the best swimmers and cyclists in our sport. The swim is always a struggle for me and with only a couple of weeks of swim training under my belt, I knew I would have a lot of ground to make up. My cycling has been going quite well and I was excited to hop on my Cervelo and see what I could do. My legs came around quickly and I started to move up through the field. I’m not usually a fan of flat courses, but my new Cervelo and Zipps treated me well and I felt like I was flying! I entered T2 in 7^thplace, only 9 seconds off the fasted bike split of the day! I was 2 minutes down from top 5 and felt confident that if I ran steady, I could move into top 5. It was my first race running in my new K Swiss shoes. I heard alot of positive feedback regarding the seemless design and how comforatable they are to run in without socks. I was within 2 minutes of top 5, so I knew it would be a close race and every second would count. I made a last minute decision to go sockless and was pleasantly surprised to cross the finish line without a single blister! I ran steady and by mile 11.5, I moved up to 6^th place. I was gaining on 5^th place and really gunning for it. I managed to close the gap to 7 seconds then the dam finish line appeared and I had to settle for 6^th place!

Overall, I was happy to just to be out there racing with some of the best triathletes in the world. I definitely have lots of work to do, but I’m happy to see that my cycling is right on track and my injuries are healed. I’m looking forward to the next 8 weeks as I begin my build up for Ironman Lake Placid.