Blaylock Triathlon – Fast transitions
What a place! Beautiful manicured landscapes. Nice clear morning with lots of sunshine. Blaylock Lakes was a triathlete’s dream. Most of the 400 plus competitors ended up parking just off the bike course overlooking the boathouse and lake and a short walk down hill to the transition area. It’s true! A Boathouse! As I hauled all my gear down to transition I noticed many of the spectators were lining up chairs on the dam to watch all the comings and goings. (Damn! I forgot my chairs!) It appeared to be a very spectator friendly race.

Finally! A swim you don’t have to run up a big hill to reach the transition area. There was not a pinecone, or pine straw, or sand anywhere to be seen or felt. (It was a little squishy!) My bike was racked about 50 meters away from the swim out. I had T1 and T2 times that would make Carole Sharpless jealous. The water temp was…well its June and you don’t wear a wet suit this far south of the Mason-Dixon line in June… nice.

The 14.7 bike course has several rolling hills. I never considered walking any of them. However, Two of the biggest were just out of the entrance after the first turn but before you could get warm up. I needed to get out of the saddle once or twice. Once you made the second turn, the roads flattened out to some beautiful country roads. I warmed up quickly. The Saturday morning traffic was minimal and well mannered. However, a little curious about what was going on out here. Every right turn had a pickup truck stopped and a local talking to the traffic management guys. The bounty of the area was overwhelming apparent as they saved one last hill before you turned into the entrance for Blaylock Lakes. The views on the bike were so nice I am sure the race director was compelled to remind you that this is a race and your heart should be pumping. (My heart pumping is not my problem; it is the lack of oxygen on these hills that gets to me.)

The morning coolness had warn off and it was just starting to get hot (did I mention it was June) as we shed our bikes and headed for the barn on the 5k run. Literally! This place has a barn too! And, someone had the foresight to pave a road over some small hills on the way to the barn. And of course that was the route we took. The hills did not help my run time any but, I was curious about the barn and it was so well landscaped that you could put the pain of running up the hills out of your mind. Thank God! they did not clear-cut all the trees for this development. There was plenty of shade on the run. And just when you thought the race committee had done all they could think of – out pops Dan Arnett (who finished first) hovering at the bottom of the last hill to encouraging everyone to surge up the last hill and sprint downhill to the finish (about 75 gut-wrenching yards.) I was actually glad to see him as it meant the end of the line for a very good race.

The crew at the Tri the Parks Races treat you like a champion when you finish. Before you can catch your breath, they have cleaned the timing chip off your ankle, serve you chilled water, shoved a cookie and or bagel in your mouth, and taken your picture.

Now that’s how some fabulous memories are made! If you are considering doing a first triathlon this is the one for you. I’ll be back next year for my second trip!

Becky Caldwell
Master Athena

The water didn’t feel too cold to me when I stuck my foot in, so I decided not to wear a wetsuit.  A few others did the same, but most were in wetsuits.  I found the group of all3 girls before the race and watched the earlier waves go off.  The swim start was fine.  It was a waist-deep start, and I felt pretty good at first.  By the time we got to the first buoy, I felt like I was really fighting the water and couldn’t get into a groove.  Other girls had started passing me, and I was just looking for someone’s feet so that I could draft a little.  Out in the middle of the lake, it felt a lot colder, and I was wishing that I had worn my wetsuit… next time.  We started catching up to guys in the earlier waves, and I just tried to hang on.  My stroke felt pretty good, but I didn’t have any speed.  Guess it’s time for me to do a little more speed work in the pool. 

The bike was uneventful.  I was a little nervous because the roads were wet, but it was a fun ride.  It was my first time racing on the new Blue - it’s a great bike!  I loved the course - plenty of rolling hills.  Before I knew it, I was back to the transition area.  It had started raining by the time I was finishing the bike, and I was looking forward to a run in the rain.  The first part of the run took us to a path around the lake, and then there was a nice, HILLY out and back section.  That run course was a lot hillier than I was expecting, but I enjoyed it.  There’s a small section on a gravel road that got pretty muddy with the rain.  Most of my running has been aerobic work, so I wasn’t sure how a 5K in a race would feel.  I finished stronger than I thought I would and felt pretty good about my day.  All in all, it was a great, well-supported race - I’m thinking I’ll sign up for the September one too!

That is short for “What Would Ken Brown Do”.  I ask myself that frequently, but it is especially helpful when racing.  I love racing because I love asking myself WWKBD!   I got the chance this past weekend at Powerman Alabama.

If anyone had done Powerman before, you know that it is not an easy race.  The course in Irondale (AL…near Birmingham) is tough and the distances tougher (8K 50K 8K of run, bike, run).  So this year, when they INCREASED the distances (10K 60K 10K), I thought to myself WWKBD?  Race it of course.  So off I went. 

Not only did they increase the distance this year, but they moved the race to a new venue:  Oak Mountain State Park.

I’m not really sure why I thought the new course was going to be easier.  Whenever the word “Mountain” is in a state park name, one has to assume that there will be, at least to some extent, some hills.  I had convinced myself that it would be a flat and fast course and was pumped to ride a fast bike split to make up for my (for me thus far this year) sub-par running. 

The race started with bang….10 min. EARLY!!!  The one complaint I have is the lack of announcement that the race was going to start EARLY.  I was in the woods emptying my bladder one more time before the start when I heard the gun!  WWKBD?  Certainly, he would sprint to the start line.  KB would have been at the start line instantly because he is so fast, but I was about 30 sec. behind everyone.

The best way to start off a 10K race is by having to run uphill for the first 600 or so yards.  This is especially true when you are in absolute last place and feel the need to get toward the front at some point in the first few miles.  The run course was never flat.  Up, down, Up down…but not flat.  Since it was an out and back, I got to see the leaders coming back and realized that they were about ½ mile ahead of me.  The guy leading looked like a pretty good athlete…like a real runner…perfect stride, perfect build, etc.  He was moving.  I knew if KB was here, he would have simply blown by this dude while running his 3 min mile pace and knocked anyone he ran by over because of the wind that his massive biceps create when they move through the air…but since Ken was not racing, this guy appeared to be doing a pretty good job of leading.

I came into T-2 about 20 people back (give or take).  Better than I started, but still a long way to go.  Should be easy with a flat bike course.  I’ll just hammer along.  I can’t quite hold 40 on the flats like KB, but I figured I could give it my best shot. 

I figured out the bike course was not flat at mile 2.  After riding (generally uphill) out of transition, I came around a bend and saw a definite hill.  Said hill required the use of my small chainring.  I don’t have massive quads like KB, so I have to have a small chainring on my bike.  KB rides a 75-55 on his front (it is almost the same size as his wheels).  I can’t keep up with my 54-42. 

Not only is the bike course not flat, it changes grades all the time.  It’s not one of these “steady climb” courses.  Anyone who has done a tri-the parks race, magnify the ups and downs of the bike course by 5 and that’s what it was like.  Throw in a headwind on the way back (when the course is more generally going down), wet pavement from the overnight rain, and add the need to lap it 3 times to gain the distance, and it’s pretty obvious that if you are not Ken Brown, you aren’t flying on this course.

I even got to feel good about myself by giving another athlete a can of Pitt Stop to fix his flat.  Of course when he caught me on the run, I wasn’t sure why I had been so nice! 

By the time I got off the bike, I had somehow worked my way up to 5^th.  I definitely lost time to the leader (I wish Ken had been racing because I would have enjoyed watching Ken pass the leader for a second time on his cool down lap.  KB usually runs the entire run course a second time to “warm down” at about 5 min per mile pace just to stretch his legs. 

The 600 yard hill at the beginning of the run was not any more fun to go up the second time.  Actually, I will go on record as saying that it really sucked.  About halfway through the run, I got caught by an athlete who could actually run rather than lumber as I tend to do.  Somehow, I didn’t let anyone else pass me and I finished in 6^th place.  

I know that KB would have finished this race in about an hour and a half, but it took me just over 3 hours to do it.  I actually hope they keep the race at Oak Mountain State Park.  It is a really scenic park and it is a really hard course.  Just perfect for anyone out there who likes to suffer through an early season test.  I recommend it…and maybe next year if you race, you just might be lucky enough to get a glimpse of Ken Brown as he rockets by.  Those biceps are hard to miss, even at that speed.

Mark took his age group in the M35-39 long course (10k-60k-10k) duathlon with a 3:09:34 and Fox placed 2nd in the short course duathlon (5k-40k-5k) coming in at 2:26:50.

Great job guys.

all3sports.com Welcomes Craig Alexander to the Family

(Atlanta, Georgia) March 4, 2010 — all3sports.com, one of the country’s premier triathlon and bicycle retailers, is pleased to announce a partnership with two-time Ironman World Champion, Craig Alexander. Under new ownership, all3sports.com has refreshed their strategies, one of which is to support world-class athletes.

In late 2008, the ownership of all3sports.com changed hands and Morgan Clark became the new President. A triathlete herself, Clark understands that triathlon is a sport which requires a healthy investment in gear and she prides herself on educating customers about product needs to best suit their athletic goals and budget. (more…)

At the end of a long distance race, it is usually pretty easy to come up with a list of what went right and what did not at the end of the day.  This race definitely fell into that category:

So after years of going down to yell and scream for the racers of Ironman Florida, I’ve decided to write my own race report. Warning: This is a bit long. For those who don’t want to read it, I’ll summarize: To the customers of of all3sports, thank you for allowing me to be a part of your racing.

The plan is always to leave Thursday morning, early, so that I can get down to PCB before dark and actually get checked into the Gulf Crest Condos, unloaded and have some dinner. As always, something always breaks with one of the computers about 10 minutes before I need to leave and that sets me back by about 1-2 hours. All in all, the drive down is not bad and I get there with some light in the sky. Rudy and Lauren C. showed up and then Morgan shortly after and we all went to dinner. This year I decided that I would actually do some training and brought bike and trainer. Unfortunately, I ate too much at dinner and almost lost it on the trainer ride I did on the balcony. Tip #1, don’t do one of Coach Dan’s workouts on a full stomach. (more…)

Cheers to Laura Sophiea, Kevin Moats, Lauren Cortjens, and Jeff Caplan.

Laura and Kevin came off of strong finishes at Kona World Championships to recover at Florida. Are you kidding?!? These guys dominated the course and both won their Age Groups in outstanding fashion. Kevin missed a sub 10 hour race time by only 6 seconds, at 10:00:05. Laura dominated her Age Group from the start, having the fastest swim, bike, and run in her division and finishing with a 10:27:25. This earns her another trip to Kona.

Some interesting facts on the race and these two athletes:

Out of 2423 participants -

Lauren and Jeff did some very fine racing of their own. Lauren’s first 140.6 distance race - 11:13:17, 9th in Age Group. Jeff almost PR’s this race, 12:22:09, after doing a PR at South Carolina Half.

Great job guys!

Check out the non-racer’s race report below.