St. Anthony's race? report

Well I'm not really sure how much I actually "raced" out there today but nevertheless, I toed the line at St. Anthony's Triathlon this morning. The biggest story de jour was the choppy water in Tampa Bay which lead to a cancellation of the swim for the AGers. RD Philip LaHaye made the call on this morning based on the fact that the water was too choppy for the kayakers to enter. Without kayakers, he wouldnt have nearly enough people to safely patrol the swim. Needless to say, this caused a bit of commotion, mainly from many of the elite AGers. Certainly most of them wouldve handled the swim fine but Philip was worried about the plethora of novice swimmers participating. So rather than swimming, they had a TT start with one person every other second by race number.

I actually chatted with Philip after the race and while he knew some of the athletes wouldve been fine, he just couldnt send thousands of racers out there, many of them beginners, without any kayakers. He is great athlete himself and does an awesome job with the race so I really felt for him when he had to make that call to cancel the swim as I knew it wasnt an easy one for him to make. I could tell he didnt like it but thats why he gets paid the big bucks: to make the tough decisions.

So where was I... oh yeah, the water was choppy! Apparently I need to practice swimming in a wave pool because once we were out in the bay swimming, I just felt like I couldnt get any kind of catch. My stroke was all out of whack and I lost the pack pretty quickly. So overall I was pretty dissapointed with the swim. It was tempered a bit by the choppy seas but I still need to be able to fight through the rough (but admittedly not terrible) conditions and maintain contact better.

Due to the slow swim, I "missed the bus" on the bike and was left to head out on my own. Flying through the streets of St. Pete, I actually felt really good and even passed a couple of people. I cant wait to look at the power file as I think it'll be pretty solid. Unfotunately though races arent won on power files and its a shame to think what those numbers wouldve lead to had I actually had a decent swim and been around some people... but such is life.

So thats it. Going I was under doctor's orders not to run, so I didnt. Rather, I took off my chip, handed it over to an official and headed to watch the finish of the race. It was a good thing I didnt have my racing flats there because if so I may have taken off...

Post race was awesome with great food, beer, and even a live band. The perfect weather didnt hurt, either. Thats all she wrote! Back to the grind tomorrow.