![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/1268497451367.jpg\" "\\"Orbea-Miami\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe got the race with plenty of time to spare, and I set things up at my transition area quickly.\u00a0 Here’s a pic of my transition area at 6:30 a.m.:<\/p>\n
As you can see, I had plenty of space available, but I didn’t need a lot.\u00a0 Readers of this site will know how I brag about my speed within transition, and it’s because less is more.\u00a0 So, in this pic, you can see my helmet to the left, the sneakers to the right, and my swim cap and nutrition gels in the foreground which would eventually be situated differently.<\/p>\n Transition closed at 6:45.\u00a0 Fern and I headed to the swim start to see the professional field take off.\u00a0 The race organizers delayed the start by 10 minutes to allow it to get lighter.\u00a0 The pro men eventually went off at 7:10 with the pro women following just a few minutes behind them.\u00a0 With both Fern and I having later start times, we were able to see all of the pros finish.\u00a0 It was impressive; the first guy, a Brazilian, did the swim in 17:55 or something.\u00a0 The eventual 2nd place finisher, Chris Lieto (who also finished 2nd at that Hawaii Ironman and who is known universally as triathlon’s strongest biker), was a good two and a half minutes behind the Brazilian.<\/p>\n We saw Marty just before his wave left and then got ourselves into the right group (as categorized by age group and swim cap color).\u00a0 With most US races governed by the USA Triathlon organization, folks are grouped by their age as of December 31st of a calendar year.\u00a0 So, with me turning 39 this year, I remain in the 35-39 age group while Fernando, who turned 39 at the end of December 2009, moved up to the 40-44 age group… and as such, we had different start times.\u00a0 I went off at 7:48 and Fern left at 7:52.<\/p>\n This was the first race with my new wetsuit and right away, I knew that I hadn’t sealed the area around my neck that well.\u00a0 I felt scratching and rubbing that I knew would be problematic if not attended to.\u00a0 The beginning of any swim leg is always somewhat chaotic, so fumbling around with a wetsuit is not the best course of action at that point.\u00a0 I just dealt with the discomfort for about 8 minutes until I found some open water to bob in for a few moments while I fixed the problem.\u00a0 Thereafter, I found myself terribly inconsistent in maintaining good form.\u00a0 My coaches at Terrier Tri have been working on deconstructing my stroke given some major problems with body rotation and upper body position, so I tried my best to follow the advice I had been given and to incorporate the new technical elements into my swimming, but it resulted in lots of short rests.\u00a0 Eventually, when I emerged from the water, I saw that I had a rather disappointing (= slow) time.\u00a0 I’ve never been known as a lightning fast open water swimmer, but this was ridiculous.\u00a0 I immediately knew that my overall goal of two and a half hours was in dire jeopardy.<\/p>\n Since I pride myself on my transition time, I quickly got over the swim disappointment and sprinted to my bike passing tons of folks.\u00a0 I got the wetsuit off quickly, got the helmet on and locked, and grabbed the bike.\u00a0 Once I exited transition and got to the “mount” line, I hopped on and shifted into a harder gear as I stood out of the saddle.\u00a0 With a bit of technical turns and with a few people swerving here and there, it was a little unnerving, but once on the open road, I settled down, got my shoes on and secured, and took a swig of water before preparing for the first of four climbs over the causeway bridge.\u00a0 Heading towards it featured a decent headwind, but with fresh legs, I was able to climb with ease and power.\u00a0 I was surprised at how close the turn-around was after the descent of the bridge, but I got around it and immediately began back up the ascent with good focus… and a nice tailwind!<\/p>\n Generally, the bike course was flat.\u00a0 Most people think that a flat course translates to being easy.\u00a0 Yes, it can be considered easy but the way I look at it, anyone can ride a flat course; the trick is to ride a flat course with consistent speed.\u00a0 I set out to do just that and all of my telemetry (heart rate, average speed, cadence, etc.) indicated that I was performing at the right effort level.\u00a0 After another turn-around, we headed back into the headwind.\u00a0 The course featured a little side out-and-back section to mix things up and again, it featured head\/tail winds.\u00a0 Eventually, we all headed back onto the main course and approached the transition area.\u00a0 It was a two-loop course, and while it was tempting to just do one loop, wisdom got the better of me as I passed it and headed back to the bridge.\u00a0 This time though, the climb was much harder.\u00a0 I wondered if I had pushed too hard on the first loop and simply had tired legs.\u00a0 It might have been partly true, but as it turns out, nearly everyone I spoke to agreed that the winds picked up as the day progressed.\u00a0 It was clearly evident as I had to get out of the saddle and really put forth a serious effort.<\/p>\n As all things yin\/yang, I got up the uphill after the turn-around easily thanks to a naturally stronger tailwind and decided that on the descent, I’d really go for some speed.\u00a0 My spedometer indicated that I hit 43.4 mph and it was obvious.\u00a0 I was able to coast for a good while which gave me the opportunity to get in some nutrition via gels and water, and once the speed dropped to 25 mph, I picked up the effort level again.<\/p>\n The rest of the bike leg was somewhat uneventful save for seeing Fernando a couple of times and gauging how far ahead I was.\u00a0 My first sighting roughly revealed a six and a half minute lead; the second one suggested that it had climbed to eight minutes flat, but I wasn’t exactly sure.<\/p>\n Going into the second transition, I executed everything well but once I dismounted and entered the bike area, I realized that I had run into the wrong aisle.\u00a0 It took a good 20-30 seconds of recovery to find my area and I was plenty pissed at myself for that.\u00a0 I am so disappointed and surprised; that will NEVER happen again!\u00a0 I should have memorized things the day before, but I didn’t… and I paid the price.\u00a0 Oh well.\u00a0 I did manage to get my sneakers on quickly and got out in a reasonable amount of time.<\/p>\n Once I began the run, I immediately thought of the advice imparted by my coach Robert.\u00a0 His suggestion was for me to start with a pace of 8:20 and slowly build each mile until I got it down to a 7:30 pace that I could sustain right to the finish.\u00a0 I felt pretty good and despite some rough running surfaces initially, I decided to just go with my feelings.\u00a0 Turns out that it was a good decision.\u00a0 My first mile split was 7:45.\u00a0 When I passed the mile marker, I looked down to see the time and was amazed.\u00a0 But, part of me was concerned; was I going too hard?\u00a0 Would this come back and bite me?\u00a0 Well, the mile 2 marker revealed another 7:45 split.\u00a0 Holy cow!\u00a0 And, I didn’t feel like I was totally extended effort-wise.\u00a0 I was in control of the run, not vice-versa.\u00a0 I was dictating the pace, not the external elements like pitch of the course, intensity of other runners, etc.\u00a0 My third mile split was 7:37 and I couldn’t believe how comfortable I felt.\u00a0 The second half of the run was harder to track because they didn’t have markers for miles 4, 5, or 6, but I did my best to gauge things my own way… and I continued to feel good.<\/p>\n I saw Fernando and Marty several times.\u00a0 Marty started in a wave that was 20 minutes ahead of me, so it was partly my goal to catch up to him, and every time I saw him, I saw that I was making up lots of time… but it was all for naught.\u00a0 I wound up finishing 19 minutes faster; he managed to hold me off.\u00a0 Fern is a fantastic runner and I’ve always been impressed by and supportive of his strength there, but Sunday wasn’t good to him.\u00a0 Lots of factors are to blame for it, and I genuinely feel bad for him.\u00a0 It was evident as we ran; every time I saw him, my calculations of our time difference kept getting larger.\u00a0 I can understand that happening on the bike, but on the run?\u00a0 Unheard of.\u00a0 The last time I saw him, I had a 10 minute lead and it was growing.<\/p>\n As I headed towards the finish of the run, I felt tired but still in full control of my pace.\u00a0 As I entered the finishing chute with several other runners, I put on the patented GG sprint and managed to get across the finish line alone.\u00a0 That’s always my goal but not for an obvious reason.\u00a0 There are usually race photographers on site and I like having unfettered race photos.\u00a0 My God, is this vanity that advanced?\u00a0 Might be time for some therapy.<\/p>\n In the finish corral, I waited for Fern hoping that he’d do okay.\u00a0 He wound up coming in 12 minutes and 9 seconds after me.\u00a0 He smiled as he crossed and he looked good.\u00a0 For that, I was relieved.\u00a0 We hugged, had our photo taken together, and headed over to get water.\u00a0 It was the largest margin of victory in our years of racing together, though only my 4th win out of 13 where we’ve raced together.\u00a0 I wasn’t racing against him though; I never do.\u00a0 I race against me and my expectations.\u00a0 If I wind up being faster than him, it’s great for trash-talking but I don’t put a lot of energy into that kind of comparison.\u00a0 Sure, 12:09 provides plenty of ammunition for the near future, but the reality is that we’ll be racing in the same events many more times in the future.\u00a0 The fact that we can do this together and have fun, and not get hurt, is all that matters.\u00a0 Fern has since come to grips with his performance at this race and he has vowed to re-dedicate his training in the next few months in advance of our next race together, a half-Ironman event in mid-June in Maryland.\u00a0 I’m happy to hear this; I want him to feel strong and race well… and I can still beat him, even better!<\/p>\n There was a little pain in this event though.\u00a0 Marty and Ox challenged us to a Senior\/Junior bet where we bet over who would be faster:\u00a0 our combined time versus their combined time… PLUS 15 minutes.\u00a0 I was diametrically opposed to the size of that handicap, but Fern agreed and so it was set.\u00a0 Turns out that Ox beat his predicted time by ninety seconds (incredibly hard to do and super impressive based on how well he did last year) and Marty beat his by five minutes.\u00a0 In contrast, I was six and a half minutes slower than my prediction, and Fern was nearly nineteen minutes slower, so they beat us straight up regardless of handicap.\u00a0 The trash talking thereafter was loud and in our face, but we owned up to our loss and bought the first round as promised.\u00a0 Marty really enjoyed the victory.\u00a0 I mean he REALLY enjoyed it.\u00a0 Dammit.<\/p>\n We had an amazing day after the race.\u00a0 We drank and ate a lot, took a short ride on Marty’s sister’s boat, and really enjoyed our company with good friends.\u00a0 I neglected to mention that Ox’s friend, R.J., was with us too along with his neighbors Debbie and Rayne.\u00a0 The three of them did the race as a relay team, and we remembered them from last year where they did the same at the St. Anthony’s Triathlon.\u00a0 The group of us really had a great time relaxing and partying.\u00a0 Here’s a pic of Fern and me on Marty’s sister’s boat:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n