Race Report: Escape from Ft. De Soto Sprint Triathlon

23rd Annual Escape from Ft. De Soto Sprint Triathlon

The largest sprint triathlon on Florida's West coast

April 11, 2009

Ft. De Soto Park- North Beach

An amazing aerial view of the race course. The bike leg is on that long, central road with the curve. Awesome spot for a fast bike. TT events are often held here.

PRE-RACE

Holy cow what a foggy morning! It was so foggy that the race ended up being delayed a half hour... not that waiting helped any. If anything, the fog got worse. I guess the race director really didn't want to turn this into a du, so off we went... into the Gulf of Mexico... in the fog. Kudos to the amazing kayak crew for not letting anyone drown.

Gimme' some fog! How can we possibly be this happy?

A look of concentration on Scott's face: "You mean I have to do my first tri in this fog??"

Three different waves; one goal!

My wave went off 3rd followed by Scott's wave (6th) and Sondra's wave (dead last). This made it quite a challenge for our amazing camera man, Jeff, to get pics of all of us in all places. Jeff has none of me other than crossing the lagoon on my way to T1 and a finishing shot after I had gotten my water. He told me I was too fast. LOL! In my dreams!

THE SWIM: 0.5 miles in the Gulf of Mexico (beach start)

The Gulf was a wee bit bouncy; normal Gulf conditions. The day before the winds had been steady around 20mph and the Gulf was wicked! It chilled over night, thankfully, and aside from the fog the weather was good to all of us.

I lined up in the front of my wave (women 20-34 and Athena) like I always do and when that air horn sounded I took off like a bat out of you know where, did 2 dolphin dives and got down to business. About 400 yards in, I thought to myself, "ooohhh... this is a bit more rolly than I like." I'm a wee bit motion sensitive and gulf/ocean swims always worry me a bit. I tried to take my mind off my tummy by concentrating on my body rotation and reminding myself to kick. I couldn't find any feet to latch on to, but my navigation was spot on (despite not being able to see the next buoy through the fog until I was past the previous one). The swim was over before I knew it and we must have had a decent current or something b/c my time rocked (for me)!

Swim time: 10:55, 7/41 in age group

T1

T1 was very interesting. It was a .4 mile run back to transition and once the exit was made from the Gulf, you had to run a little ways on the beach and then run through a little lagoon and then run back onto the sand up to the transition area. I must have stepped on something during my swim exit b/c I felt a terrible pain in the bottom of my foot. Heel bruise! Argh!

T1 time: 4:25, 5/41 in age group

THE BIKE: 10 mile loop with 2 awesome cul-du-sacs at each end

My bike leg was HOT (for me)!!! As you can see from the aerial shot of Ft. De Soto above, the bike course is extremely favorable for fast times. I kept rotating positions with 3 other women and chicked more men than I could keep count of (guys, I love ya... but it always feels good to pass ya). This sprint tri had 1000 entrants and that made conditions tight. Yes, there was drafting going on. I tried my very best NOT to be a part of this, but with so many people on the course at one time, it was a difficult thing to avoid entirely.

I felt great on the bike. I pushed, but not to the point of puking (hmmm... maybe I should have) and came in a very respectable 4th in my age group for this leg.

Bike Time: 26:53, 22.3 mph average speed, 4/41 in age group

T2

After a fairly decent dismount (I still need to learn to do all of that fancy stuff), I pulled on my Newtons and my visor and was off. I forgot to start my Garmin prior to the race so that it would be ready for me, so I wasted some 'concentration time' on the way out of the transition area fiddling with that.

T2 time: 1:15, 5/41 in age group

THE RUN: 3.6 miles including Ft. DeSoto's flight of 45 stairs (up and down) and a "tough for me" 1.5 mile portion on soft sand beach and slightly packed trail dirt)

By the time my run started, the fog had almost lifted entirely and the sun was starting to show some signs of life. I held around an 8:50 pace or better for the entire asphalt leg leading up to the mind-numbing, 45 stair climb at the Fort. Now, I know that some people "ran" up the stairs. Sondra even said that she took them 2-by-2. Not me. I walked up them. One step at a time. The run always kicks my butt and it's always a max effort for me on flat ground. There was no way I could 'run' up those stairs.

Of course, what goes up must come down and as if the stairs weren't cruel enough, I was immediately dumped onto the soft, sand of Ft. De Soto beach. Now, this sand is GORGEOUS! Ft. DeSoto beach is consistently named one of the top 10 beaches in the world. To me, the sand feels like confectionery sugar. Lovely to feel under your toes and play in, not so lovely to run on. The soft sand went on for what seemed like forever until the course transitioned into a more compact dirt trail (not nearly compact enough for me) and then finally back into concrete for the last 1/2 mile.

My calves are KILLING me this morning.

Run time: 33:05, 9:11 pace (eek), 17/41 in age group (double eek!)

OVERALL

This course was lovely. Even with the fog, the Gulf was a pleasure. The bike course was insanely fast and I rocked it! Finally, despite my 'goal' run pace being in another zip code entirely, I had a great run on elements (stairs, soft sand/trails) that I never train for.

Overall race time: 1:16:30

Age Group: 11/41

Gender: 48/356

Overall: 314/982

Happy me at the finish!

Scott had an amazing first race! He finished a little more than 1 minute behind me overall in 1:17:50 and had a very balanced first triathlon! Just like Dave Scott said, baby, balance in all three disciplines is key. With our overall times being so close, if we had started the darn race together we could have held hands the entire way. Way to go, baby! I'm so PROUD of you!

Sondra also had a great race finishing in 1:23:17 and of course, posting another fabulous bike split! Son, we will tackle our run together. It will come together. We need to have faith!

Accomplishment!!

Yes! Done! Where's the food??

WARDROBE UPDATE (for those who are curious)

It is official. Competition bathing suit + BodyGlide on bike saddle (thanks for this tip, Maggs) = ultimate race outfit (for me anyway). I couldn't have been a happier camper and I LOVED the simplicity!

RANDOM POST-RACE SHOTS

The stairs!! What goes up...

... must come down

Group shot on the top of the Fort

Always smoochin'

Scott was so smokin' fast in his first tri that we had to lock him away

Everyone should have a monkey for their best friend