St. Anthony's Triathlon 1st Elite Amateur

I can safely say I had the best race of my life yesterday at St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Pete. I had trained long and hard for this moment and I could not have been more prepared.

The swim was a rough due to a strong wind from the southeast so there was a strong current as well. Marc and I plotted a great strategy to use the current to my advantage and stay on course during the swim. Nonetheless it was rough and I was glad to hit the steps to exit the swim.

I came out of the water in second place although I was unsure exactly because I had caught some pro women during the swim. The bike was very windy and the first ten to fifteen minutes was truly a test of my fitness and ability to overcome circumstances. I had lost all my water due to bumps in the road, and the strap on my bike shoe had come out completely, the stiff headwind didn't help matters either. I tried to relax and wait till we had a tail wind to put my strap back in my bike shoe. Around mile 15 there was a water stop so I filled up on water and downed my nutrition. As the ride went on I started feeling better and better and re- passed about three men who had passed me in the beginning of the ride.

I dismounted my bike into the second transition and started the run in about third place. I ran beside Nike Early for about 2.5 miles until I dropped him and started really finding my pace. We had passed the guy in the lead at about mile 2. After the 5k turn around I stared passing some pro women and tried to lift the pace on the run even more. I was feeling great and new I was going to have a great run, but it didn't come easy the last mile as there was a strong headwind. I didn't realize until the finish that I was in first place for amateur men, but I'm very happy with the result.

My time was 1:58:30 and I just about tied my best open 10k with a 35:40 off the bike. This gives me alot of confidence for the future but for now I just want to continue improving my run and bike, as well as my swim so that I can race competitively in the ITU circuit. This did qualify me for my elite licsense but my coach, Marc, and I have decided to take things patiently and develop a little more before I race professionally.

Thanks to all my coach, Marc, and all my friends and family especially Brian Herzig with Team Herzig, Epic Cycles, and West Orange MT!