Run Tampa

Triathlon Tampa

The sport of triathlon just keeps growing, worldwide, nationally, and in the bay area. No surprise there. It's a natural progression for many runners, swimmers, and cyclists. The number of participants in all distances of triathlons continues to grow, but the distance growing at the fastest rate is the sprint distance, no doubt because people can maintain adequate training for these events while still having a normal life.
I did my first triathlon around 1983. I had been running for several years and had experienced some success, but I was not placing in my age group. I mainly ran to stay fit and lose weight after Wendy was born. However, along about that time my brother, Milt Bedingfield, did his first Ironman Hawaii. He was one of only a handful of triathletes in central Florida back then. Not long after that, the sport of triathlon took off in the by area, and we were both on the board of Team Tampa Triathletes.
With a swimming background and lots of coaching experience, Milt started Forest Hills Aquatics because there were many triathletes back then who desperately needed swim coaching. 
With very little training, I did a sprint tri at Clearwater Beach and placed third in my age group. It turned out that my swimming background gave me a huge advantage. Well, I participated in triathlons for a year or so. Then I became too busy with my kids and beginning my teaching career to do anything but run.
So, I took a 23 year hiatus from triathlons. 

Publix Family Fitness Weekend is Here

The Publix Family Fitness Weekend kicks off Friday night at Fort Desoto Park with a 5k race and packet pickup for Saturday's events.

It sure is good to see Publix supporting and encouraging family fitness. Goodness knows, few things are more important than fitness, and it starts with kids. I have spent most of the last 20 years teaching teens, mostly ninth graders. I was always in better shape, fitness-wise than most of my students. That is sad.

One thing I noticed is that some overweight students were absent much more often and were usually withdrawn. Some students could barely squeeze into their desk. Too many students spend many idle hours in front of the TV, video, or computer screen, usually munching on something unhealthy. Ugh! It is an uphill battle, but fight it we all must. Thanks, Publix, for making  a commitment to encourage healthy living.

The Family Fitness Weekend offers a 5K race, youth duathlon, sprint triathlon and sprint duathlon at world famous Ft. Desoto Beach. I'll be participating in the sprint tri. I have never done any of the races in this series, but I have heard that Publix does a wonderful job, that the activities are organized, and that the after race food is excellent.

Top Gun Triathlon

The Top Gun Triathlon seemed to go off without a hitch this morning. Beautiful, albeit hot weather, big crowd, great after race food (I'm told, not being a participant, I resisted, honest), and they even had a large wading pool for cooling down after the finish. Triathletes seemed to really appreciate that.

If you enjoyed Top Gun - and it sure looked like everyone did - then consider registering for the Publix Family Fitness Weekend Triathlon, which is also at Ft. Desoto  Park, almost exactly the same distance and only three weeks away on August 22nd. I'll see you there.

Our next big tri weekend after that will be my birthday weekend, Sept. 12 and 13. The Chaotic Coteeman Triathlon will be in New Port Richey on Sept. 12th, Sand Key Triathlon will be on Sept. 13th, and Escape to Siesta Triathlon will be in Sarasota Sept. 12th. All three are sprint distances, perhaps varying slightly in distance but not enough to matter, not to me. I am told the Sand Key Triathlon includes two trips over the bridges we went over at the Morton Plant Triathlon, but that might be a reason to do it, for the challenge. On the other hand, I feel pulled toward Chaotic Coteeman by the name. As an English teacher, I love unusual names and/or titles. So, I may be there.

I'll definitely celebrate my birthday with a race, but I'm not sure which one, probably the one most of my friends are doing. Any race - any adventure of any kind - is enriched exponentially by the camaraderie of friends, right? What better way to celebrate still being healthy, happy, and ABLE to do triathlons at the ripe old age of 56.

I'll Never Forget T2 at the Morton Plant Triathlon

The Morton Plant Triathlon was great fun. I say that now.
At 1:30 a.m. on race morning, however, when I STILL wasn't asleep, I was not in particularly good spirits. Next thing I knew, my alarm rang. It was 4:30. So, with a whopping three hours of sleep, I climbed out of bed and proceeded to convince myself that many, many people find it difficult, if not impossible, to sleep the night before a big race, whether it be a triathlon, marathon, or a first 5k. I told myself that the 1/3mi swim, 13mi bike, and 5k run would take a whole hour less than a half marathon. I hoped to finish in about 1 1/2 hrs. Then an hour later I could be back home and crawling into bed.
Besides the lack of sleep, everything went well Sunday morning until I entered the transition area after the bike segment for T2, but I'll get to that later.
First snafu, accident on the Causeway. I just followed the other cars up and over the island, an easier move for people with an SUV, but my TSX managed it okay.
I arrived at the race site at 5:50 to discover that parking at Sand Key Park, the race site, was already full, and I would have to park down the street. No problem. I had scouted out a backup parking spot the day before. The only hitch was getting all of that gear and my bike to transition. Mental note: purchase one of those big, nice, triathlon backpacks with the padded straps.
Five minutes later I was marked, no problem, but then there was a long, inefficient line to pick up chips. I had wondered the night before why I hadn't received a chip at check-in. Anyway, with everyone standing in line WITH their bikes, it was quite a knot at the chip table. That said, everyone was patient, and we did all get out chips in time.
With my bike racked and gear spread out, I carefully counted the racks in order to make it easy to locate my bike in T1 and return it in T2. Someone had even tied a balloon to the fence nearby, so I thought finding my stuff would be a cinch. HA!
Everything went pretty well until T2. I managed to get into kind of a bottleneck at the beginning of the swim, but then got into a reasonable rhythm. Coming out of the water, I dropped my goggles when I took off my cap, no big deal. T1 went well.
No problems on the bike, except my quads, once again seemed to take five miles to warmup.  My new bike was sweeeeeeet though. Got a Trek Equinox, 2006, on Craigslist for $750. I love it. Big improvement over borrowing my husband's 'too big' road bike like I did for the Madeira Beach Tri.
Anyway, the only major problem happened when I entered the transition area after the bike. I somehow got disoriented and thought I had entered the area from the same end through which I had left it. Yeah, ugh! I don't know how I did that. I counted my 7 rows, but the numbers were wrong on the racks. They weren't even close. I frantically ran in the other direction, but, although that should have been right, I was still confused and turned around again, and ran back to the wrong end again. Then, finally, I realized what I had done and located the right spot. The result was a five minute transition that would have been about two minutes. Rookie mistake. I won't do that again. From now on, my triathlon preparation will include a careful study of the entry and exit of transition for T1 and T2.
Somehow, miraculously, I still got third in my age group with a time of 1:31. So, I was happy, and I did have a nice nap.
Next up, the Top Gun Triathlon on August 1st, at Ft. Desoto Park. The last time I did a triathlon at Ft. Desoto was 23 years ago.

Madeira Beach Triathlon 2009

Oh, yeah, that was fun. I say that now, but I do recall thinking - during the first half of the 15 mile bike portion - why am I doing  this? Just after the bike turnaround, though, I started to feel better and pick up speed. One by one I picked off many of the people who had passed me.
Then the first  half of the 5K run was even more of a struggle than the first part of the bike. My lower legs just throbbed, probably because I stood up to pedal every so often to pick up speed on the bike. That improved my bike speed, but I sure paid for it in the run.
Then, halfway through the run, just like in the bike leg, I started to feel like normal. I have always considered the bike my weakest part of the triathlon, but yesterday my run time was really slow. Of course, I knew my run would be a good bit slower than my usual 5K time, but it  was five minutes slower. I didn't expect that.
I guess that's the way it is with triathlons. The adage 'live and learn' was never more apt. It's a complicated sport for sure, but that's part of the attraction. With three disciplines to train for, there is a lot to consider. I now realize that if I'm going to stand up to pedal, I have to do that in training and not just in spinning class. Then I have to simulate the race by running immediately following that. I did do many bricks in training, but they were often just after a spin class and not after hard on-road bike miles.

I'll Tri Again Next Month

I was marked and ready, pleased at the pleasant air temp, when I heard the announcement. Due to high winds causing rough waters, race officials had cancelled the swim portion of the St. Anthony's Triathlon for the first time ever. The problem was that the kayaks race officials use to monitor the swim were unable to maneuver; also, the currents were so strong that the buoys were not staying in place. Sounded pretty bad out there. Only the professional athletes would be allowed to do the swim portion.
I would say most participants were relieved because the swim seems to be the part of triathlons more people dread. I, on the other hand, was extremely disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I agree that the conditions were unsafe, and I'm sure race officials did the prudent thing; in fact, it sounded like they had no choice. Still, it meant I wouldn't/couldn't do a tri today, and to make it worse, those high winds would also make the bike leg, by far my weakest leg, a challenge.
I wasn't in good spirits, anyway, after sleeping less than three hours, so I decided to pack it in. In 30 years of racing, that's the first time I've ever gone to a race and then decided not to do it, but that's my prerogative. It was the right decision for me Sunday.
I'll continue my training to prepare for the Madeira Beach Triathlon in a few weeks. No worries.

Decided to Try a Tri Again: St. Anthony's Here I Come

This is it. St. Anthony’s is just around the corner – or, for me – just across the bay. Am I ready? I’m certainly not as ready as I could be, but I’ll be okay. I have competed in the Olympic distance before, albeit a few years back, try 23. Yes, I competed in a dozen or so triathlons back in the mid 80’s. My brother, Milt Bedingfield, one of Tampa’s earliest triathletes, probably the first one, was doing the Ironman Hawaii every year back then, nine times in all, and he inspired me. Milt’s busy raising five kids now, but mine are all grown up, so I’ve decided to try a tri again.

I think I did my last Olympic distance – although they didn’t call it that back then – in 1986. Yes, I am that old. So what? I still love to run, and I still love to swim. And, unfortunately, I still hate to bike.

I’ve been doing plenty of running over the last few months, including three halfs, so I’m comfortable with that.

Swimming? Well, that’s actually my strongest event. I haven’t been swimming much, but I have been in the water several times recently, each time putting in a mile or more. And distance events were my forte in high school. Plus, I’ve intensified my weight training lately; so I’m ready enough for the swim.

So, it comes down to the bike. Ouch! I just don’t like to bike. I think it’s just that awkward – for me – position. I just don’t have the back for it. Still, I have put in a few sessions over the last few weeks. And most of the time I did bricks, a bike ride followed immediately by a run. My friend Frank Helfrich highly recommends them, and I have to admit that running after biking has gotten much easier as a result.  

I guess I’m ready enough. I bought a cute new tri suit – skin suit – I think they call it, and I’ve rented a wetsuit. That’s not so cool, but I didn’t want to buy one just for this one race. Now I still need to purchase some tri glide. Not sure what exactly that is, but I understand I’ll need it to gracefully exit my wetsuit.

Yes, I’m ready. If I enjoy the race, then I’ll sign up for the Madeira Beach Tri in a few weeks. That one is a shorty, a true sprint.

I have to say that even though my triathlon training has not been intense, I’ve definitely noticed an improvement in my running as a result of the increased cross training, and I love that. I hope to see some of you out there. I’ll be wearing my RunTampa.com shirt after the race, and I’ll be looking tired but happy for sure :)