Did the sprint.

Swim: Good for me. 13 min and change, 2nd in my AG
T1: Long run to transition didn't help me.
Bike: Had trouble getting going on long leg into the wind. Got better the further I went. I'm behind where I wanted to be with my bike training, so about what I expected.
T2: No issues.
Run: Heat got to me on the out leg. Cloud cover and breeze helped coming back.

Ended up 8th in my AG (M60-64). OK for the first race of the year. Happy with the swim.

Mark

That's a solid swim given the headwind! I think the fastest sprint swim of the day was something like 11:09.

Olympic distance. 1st year doing St. Anthony's. I thought race was well put together. I'm a slow swimmer so I mostly just expect to get through it. T1 went fine because for Olympic it was close. Bike went pretty well. Some wind on occasion. T2 no issues. Run killed me. Slower than normal. The heat didn't feel good and I just couldn't get my legs.

Oly was into a decent wind and choppy the entire way. I'm MOB swimmer and thought it cost me about 5'. Great bike and okay run. I thought the run temps where cooler as compared to past years I've raced here. Awesome race, as always!

Forgot to mention that I passed a rider down at the last 90 deg turn heading back to T2 where it goes from pavement to pavers. The EMTs were strapping him to a head/neck board when I went by. Hope he is okay.

Mark

Run temps were cooler for sure.

Great race. Not my best time, but my best finish- 12/132 in AG. The weather in Florida has been unseasonably warm and this was no exception.

Swim: 33- (last year was about 30); (yes, I suck, but I am trying to swim more, get better); top 1/3rd in AG/overall in spite of suckiness. no wetsuit, current, and pretty rough seemed to slow most down as quick review looks like even many good swimmers were 2-4+ minutes slower.

Bike: 1:06 (22.4)-- almost the same as last year but better placing again 12/130 vs 17/152. windy! NP 214W, VI 1.02- about where I thought I should be. between traffic and some bumpy roads, I didn't stay as aero as I would have liked.

Run: 45:56 vs 47:00 last year, 9/130 vs 14/152. hot but not unbearable. happy I did negative split and didn't fade.

Steve

I did the Oly this year. It was my second time there. I did it in 2011 when they shortened the swim. I must first mention that this is one of the best events each year. It's so well organized and the vibe is great.

My race.

Swim was into the wind and current, but otherwise uneventful. 27:25. The bike is by far my weakest skill and I'm getting a little better. 1:10. I expected to run better, but I ended up settling in for and even paced 41:29. Those times got me 5th in the 50-54 AG. Now, it's back to practicing the bike thing.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

I agree about the swim. Spectators said the water was calmer for the later waves. I was relatively early. 7:23am. And it was tough. Fun, but tough.

I thought the bke was among the tougher St. Anthony's bikes. There were some strong crosswinds that blew me a foot or three to the side, one time nearly into a curb. There are now more speed humps on the course whic I think is ridiculous. Otherwise I think my bike was solid, 22.7mph. I think on a calm day I would have broken into the 23s. Haven't reviewed my power file yet. I'll do that when I get back to the ATL.

The run is where I figured my race would fall apart. I've been battling plantar fasciitis and hadn't run in 2 weeks or had been able to train my run the way I wanted. Surprisingly, my PF felt ok most of the run. It started to bother me a little around mile 4. The big problem, was, moron that I am, I chose not to wear socks (I always race sock less in olys but hadn't been training that way) So very early, before I even hit the street, blisters were forming. It was a tortuous run. I poured blood out of my right shoe in medical. All in all I got the best run result I could have that day. I essentially ran the pace I trained at(thank you PF... Grrrrr) 8:15ish/mile. I've have raced at 30s/mile faster than that. Yeah. I'm no gazelle.

I was surprised where I finished in my AG... 24th. I'll take that in my AG any day with a field of this size.

I suck at swimming. It's seriously taking me out of contention. 30:12 swim, 57:44 bike, 41:04 run; 2:11:04 OA. 1st in AG/22nd OA... I had a great ride, but I'm still puzzled as to why my swim is seriously so awful.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

I was in the 2nd sprint wave (men +40). We didn't start until 8:30AM and by then the water was smooth and flat. Almost like a pool swim. I'm sure that was a big factor in my swim results. It also probably helped that the sprint course just ran parallel to the shore and didn't have the leg out into the bay like the Oly.

Mark

Hi Mark...that rider was me...#673. Thank you for your concern. Was not as bad as it looked but was bad enough to have had surgery on a broken clavicle here at Bayfront. Heading home shortly.
Was just starting the bike....ran over manhole cover which I wasn't ready for....did not brace myself for the bump. Hands slipped off the aero bars and down I went. Am fortunate. But still p8ssed! I felt like it was going to be a very good day. Oh...was supposed to do Alcatraz in June for the 2nd time. Not happening.

My 2nd year St. Anthony's and I agree with you on the swim - a good head wind and a bit choppy the whole way which slowed me down a bit too. The bike was fast and I started the run at a decent pace but the heat got to me around mile 4 and my pace fell off a little.

Very well organized and one of my favorite races.

Sorry about your accident. Thanks for the update. Hope you can heal quickly and get back at it .

Mark