Last Thursday Jordan and I flew to Florida for 5 days of sunshine, waves, family, and ah yes The Miami International Triathlon.  Since most don’t care about our days filled with adventuring around south Florida in a cargo van or playing Brio trains with my nephew, I’ll cut to the chase: the race.

Held on Key Biscayne, the MIT is a first-class race.  Well organized and with lots of big-name pros it’s hard to believe 2009 is only its 2nd year.  I highly recommend it to anyone looking to get in an early season race…especially if you’re a New Englander looking to get some Vitamin-D for a change (not an issue for us Coloradans).

Though without the help of Ludacris, Girl Talk, or even ACDC (I drowned my iPod which was on its way to its 4th b-day.  Unfortunate.), Jordan and I arrived at the race site at 6am ra’ring to go.  I noticed my rear tire wasn’t holding air and hunted down the race mechanic to get it checked out.  It was just an issue with the valve extender, no big deal and an easy fix, but suddenly it was 6:40 (Lesson #1: really make sure my bike is 100% ready to go the day before).  Transition closed and they yanked everyone from the water.  So, my warm-up consisted of jumping up and down a few times to get the ol ticker going (Lesson #2: get to the race early).

The swim was a battle.  Elite amateur men and women started together and arms were flailing wildly.  At one point someone grabbed my torso and just shoved me aside.  It was still dark out and impossible to see the buoys so I just followed the splashing mass before me.  It felt like an eternity but I surfaced in 21:21.

Off on the bike with the a graceful mount (ha).  Climbing the bridge about a 1/2 mile out of transition I go over one of the joints and hear my bottle pop out the cage.  It’s rolling down the bridge and I’m running after it like a lunatic weaving a tapestry of obscenities.  Now over every bump I’m reaching back and making sure it doesn’t escape (Lesson #3: don’t try a new bottle cage for the first time in a race).  My legs aren’t cooperating and I end up with a mediocre bike split.

Heading into transition I actually do dismount somewhat gracefully but then manage to drop my bike and trip over it while running.  The bottle falls out, and again I find myself running back for it for fear of getting a penalty if I don’t.

Heading out on the run I see Jordan standing on the side of the trail.  I’m confused at first because they just announced that the pros would be finishing in about 5 minutes.  I assume the announcer is wrong, he’s talking about the pro women, and Jordan just totally crushed it.  Then I see Matt Reed and Andy Potts running the other way en route to the finish.  Oh-no.

Nothing I can do, so I just got to work on catching people.  My breathing was out of control so I focused on staying relaxed and taking water every chance I got.  My legs still weren’t feeling it, but I was able to work my way up to 7th on the first loop, then going into the 2nd loop Jordan yelled 6th place wasn’t far ahead.  Caught her, and then with about a mile to go got up into 5th, where I would finish.

All in all it was a good race with lots of lessons learned that I will apply to my other races this year.  The biggest takeaway being that it’s great to be relaxed and laidback about races, but I should probably be more on the ball about preparations, mainly in the way of equipment and fueling/hydrating and also in ensuring I get in a quality warm-up.  It’s a nice place to start the season, as it’s about 3 minutes faster than my Olympic-distance best last year and on a day I was feeling pretty mediocre (which I blame primarily on the lack of gansta rap before the race =)).

The mystery of Jordan’s apparition appearing on the run course was solved once I found him post-race and learned his chain broke in the second loop of the bike.  For the fully nitty-gritty you can read his recap here.  It is a major bummer, but as usual, he handled it with astonishing composure (seriously!).  Without going all mushy, I have to say he is a great role model on keeping everything in perspective and channeling frustrations into more fuel for his fire.  Every triathlete has to deal with a mechanical malfunction at some point in his/her career, and I can only hope that when I do I face it with the same composure he has.  Ok ok the mush stops here.

Sorry for the lack of pics.  Once I get my mits on some I’ll post them asap.  In the mean time there are some on my Twitter feed if you’re really itching to see our antics.

It’s hard to ride Lookout without getting some good comments along the way.  As I hammered my way around one of the turns near the top on Monday I got a, “Can I get some of your turbo juice?!” as I passed two suffering cyclists.  I’m not much of a climber, so stuff like that totally makes my day and gives me some extra oomph, which was much needed on Monday during my first 2xLookout workout.  I’ve had good fitness indicators of swimming and running, but cycling has been a question mark.  Now I know for certain that I am well ahead of where I was this time last year…though knowing full well that this year is not last year, and so after this the comparisons between the two will end.  Last year I was struggling so hard to make it up Lookout in under 30 minutes.  Eventually I got through sometime in late spring/early summer.  Monday I went 26:42 on the first and 28:17 on the second.  By no means “fast”, but definitely evidence my cycling is improving.  

This week I’ve been able to dedicate a lot of time to cycling and running as I’m currently unable to swim.  …As in physically cannot.  The skiing crash on Thursday has left my triceps a bit of a mess.  I didn’t even realize it until I got in to swim an easy workout on Monday morning and couldn’t go.  I “swam” a pathetic 600m before calling it a day.  Fortunately, it only interferes with swimming, out of the saddle climbing, opening the clothes dryer, and shampooing my hair (for the latter two I have found alternate methods ).  I definitely miss swimming, but until I am better I am enjoying the break from the chlorine!  The way I see it, extended time away from  the pool will, in an ideal world, be few and far between for the next several years so I might as well enjoy it now.  I’ve gotten in some great rides and runs, and have begun to really enjoy both again.  Then again, the great weather has helped too =)  

Over the next 6 days I get to show-off all of my favorite running spots to my college roommate/teammate/favorite Canadian femme, Anne who will be out getting her fill of Colorado!  Yea!!