Crabman Triathlon 2014

The 2014 Crabman race marks my one year anniversary of being a triathlete.  While I still consider myself a novice, I have learned more about the sport and now have performance expectations to go along with it.  My primary goals for this year were simply: improve my time from last year and get on the podium for my age group.

Results..doesn't show discipline rankings

The morning started bright and early with a 4:10 am wakeup followed by a quick bowl of cereal, shower, taking care of the dogs, and shooting out the door just prior to 5 am.  Gazelle picked up Shara and I promptly at 5, loaded the bikes on to his ride, and away we went.  Upon arrival at Crabman, we all quickly settled into transition spots and set up our stuff.  Unlike any other triathlon I competed in, Boumenot, Gazelle, Matthew, and I were all right near each other.  I'm not sure how the other guys felt, but it was pretty cool to have my battle station right near my home boys.  Once transitions were set up, we went for a brief warmup jog and took a quick dip in the ocean before waiting for our starts.

At 6:35 my wave went off and the battle began.  I tried to get a good start into the choppy water, but it was difficult with all of the athletes and conditions.  After a couple of minutes, I was able to get into my groove even though I had difficulty sighting bouys with the choppy waters.  The swim went by amazingly fast and before I knew it we were out of the water.  Coming out of the water the only thing I knew is that I was in good shape.  I jogged to TI and started to think about the bike portion.  Once I made it to my bike, I struggled to get my wet suit off and bike shoes on in a timely manner.  My transition was absolutely horrible.

By the time I made it on the bike, I just hoped to have a solid cruise.  The bike is my worst discipline. However, this bike course was made for me, short and flat.  During the bike I was happy to only be passed by two riders-both of whom I was able to keep my sights on throughout the race. Unfortunately I knew the real contenders were way up the road and most likely knocking me way out of contention.  The highlight of my ride was coming up on Boumenot and shouting words of encouragement to each other.  I dismounted from my bike and began my awkward jog through the field to get to T2.  T2 was much smoother than T1.

Alright, run time!  My time, I hope.  Once I started my run, I tried to maintain a consistent pace that would carry me through most of the run.  I was able to catch a number of athletes but had no idea where I was in the overall race.  I felt confident throughout my run-the most disheartening part of this portion of the race was running up on Schonning, who was tending to his ailing hip.  I felt bad for Steve as he is an incredible triathlete and has been battling hip issues for awhile now.  After this encounter, I carried on and came up on the Gazelle.  Like my Boumenot encounter, it was pretty cool to be competing right next to one of my training partners.  We offered more encouragement and then I went back into hunter mode looking for guys with 30 to 34 on the back of their calves (Weird sport, I know).  In the last mile of the run I was able to pick off a 26 and 33.  I ran through the finish with some steam and hoped I placed in my division.  Shortly after I finished, Gazelle came through and we went back out on the course to try to catch Boumenot, Shara, Matthew, Johnny E., and Schonning finish.

Once again, another strong showing by the WTAC contingency.  Here are some highlights:
Shara: 4th female, Age Division winner,  1:04:24, another very strong showing
Gazelle: 25th overall, 2nd in division, 1:04:06, wow after a hard Blessing race.
Boumenot: 51st overall, 6th division, 1:08:41, first TRI in a couple years.
Jonny E: 22nd overall, 2nd in division, 1:03:37, monster showing.
Matthew: 141st overall, 4th in division,1:16:33, I feel your pain..you still did awesome
Schonning: 70th overall, 5th in division, 1:09:51, injured
Polly: 110th overall, 3rd in division, 1:13:19, well done

and for me..
8th overall, 4th in division, 58:26.  Missed the podium by three seconds.
Swim: 6:22, Bike: 31:02, Run: 18:04..long course.
Overall, I was happy with my performance but disappointed not to get on the podium due to a poor T1 and bike ride.  My biking needs some serious work.