Memphis In May Race Report

My first race of the year is complete! I can say that it was pretty good race in which I was able to learn some things that I need to work on. Well let's get to the report.

I arrived at the Veranda Hotel on Saturday. The hotel and the race start were right next to each other, so it would make for an easy race morning on Sunday. The room at the hotel was nice. No issues there. After checking in, I went to packet pick up which was pretty easy. This was located next to the hotel. Following packet pick up, I went for a swim. The swim was in a lake behind the hotel. The water was nice. I wouldn't say that it was cold or warm. I was able to swim in my tri top and shorts comfortably.

The dinner options in the Tunica area are confined to the casinos. With recent flooding in the area, two casinos were still closed, Harrah's and Bally's. This left the Horseshoe, Road House, and Gold Strike as options. Also, the Veranda Hotel was having a buffet for $20, but it was BBQ and turkey with sides. Not my idea, of a pre-race meal. I ended up at the Horseshoe with some people that I know from the local tri club All in Multisport. We ate at Benions. It was a fairly pricey dinner, but it was great. I had the seafood pasta and hit the spot. The hotels also had buffets that were around $25. You could also drive up to Memphis or Southaven for food options. This would have been a 30 minute drive.

Race Morning
Woke up around 4:30 ate a clif bar, banana, bagel, and drink some Gatorade. I walked my bike down to the transition area around 5:30 to get a decent spot. The area were my bike was a pretty good location. The rack was located along the main in/out for swim/bike/run. Easy to find no matter where you put it on the rack. The great thing about the hotel being close is that I went back up to the room to relax after setting up.

Swim - 36 minutes 23 seconds

The swim is a time trial start with a person going every 3 seconds. You lined up by race number and waited your turn. They started about 7:00 am and by 7:15 was off in the water. The swim is not my best event. I started out with a pretty good rhythm, but then fell off that rhythm. I then kinda of struggled to find a good rhythm, but never really got there. I was hoping to finish the swim in 30 minutes, but didn't even get close! I finished the swim in 36 minutes!

Just before the swim start, I noticed some rain clouds moving in overhead. Was it going to rain? It started to rain while we swimming. It changed even more once on the bike!

The takeaway here is I need to swim more in the open water.



Transition 1/Bike - 1:11 transition/1:11:05 24 mile bike

The transition went smoothly and I was off on the bike. The course was a triangled shaped bike course with the first part heading west, then south, and finally back north towards T2. The wind was out of the SW for the day, so the first part was going to be slow followed by a fast back in!

The bike started off smoothly, but then the sky decided to open up! It started to pour. The rain was stinging and it was lighting. I just put my head down and rode hard. I also noticed that my Garmin had locked up, so I had to restart it. It took about 4 miles to get warmed up but once I did I was really able to push the pace.

The course was flat and fast and I enjoyed it even with the driving rain. The course was marked and managed well in my opinion.



Transition 2/Run - 1:45 T2/ 52:14 10Kish run

By the time I arrived at T2, I knew my shoes and socks would be soaked, but I put them on and off I ran. Not like, they weren't going to get anyways since it was still raining off and on.

I started the run off pretty strong, but my pace started to decrease by mile 3. After passing mile 3, we headed to the turn around point and just after that my watch hit 4 miles, before the marker? By the time I hit the 4 mile marker, my watch was 4.5 miles. I started thinking that my watch was off. I didn't think I was running that slow? After passing, the 4 mile marker. I was to able to again reduce my pace through the next 2.7 miles. I felt that I had a good push until the end. It turned out that the course was longer than advertised, but you have to prepare for the unexpected. It was 6.7 miles instead of 6.2.


The run course was flat and fast. The aid stations were well stocked and placed in good locations. If it had been hot, they would have served themselves well. The rain and clouds keep things cooler.

Overall I was happy with my bike and my run. I still need to work on the swim. I have another race coming up on June 4th were I will do a 1.2 open mile swim. It will give me a good chance to practice once more before Buffalo Springs at the end of June!

I would do this race again next year assuming it's at the same location.

Busy Week Ahead/Trying to get into Seattle to Portland

Last weekend was another good weekend. The weather was excellent and allowed for me to get a nice long long ride on Sunday. I rode to Atkins and back along Hwy 64. It was a tough ride out there with the wind out of the W to NW at 10 to 20. However, the ride back was fast and really enjoyable. Riding into the wind is a great challenge both physically and mentally. I would say it is more mental especially when you know how long of ride it is going to be. This ride concluded a tough week of training and this upcoming week will be light/easy week with the Memphis in May Triathlon on Sunday!

Another reason, the training will be lighter this week is I have to head down to Florida for work. I will fly into Orlando on Tuesday morning and then visit/help out on a site in Sarasota and Zephyrhills before heading back home Thursday. It will be a good time to rest up and relax even though it is work. I doubt I'll get the chance to experience Florida though it will be all work.

Of course, on Saturday, I will be heading to Tunica for the Memphis in May triathlon. The course is clear for the weekend of racing even though the casinos are closed. The race directors even sent an aerial photo of the race site showing that it wasn't flooded. I bet they were getting tons of emails and calls about the event and the previous statements didn't help, so nothing says that it's clear than a picture.

The only other big news that is going on is I'm trying to get into the Seattle to Portland bike ride. I just missed the general registration and am now trying to bid on a charity slot. The bid closes tomorrow afternoon and by then I will know if I'm going. If I don't go, I think I will still probably head out to the area. I've never been out to Seattle/Portland and I think now is a good time. I'm think of heading out around the weekend of July 1 and stay until July 10th.

It's been a week

I've been quiet on here for the past week. I can't say there is much to report, but I'll let you know some things.

We have moved into a new location for taekwondo. The new building we are located is well over double the size of the old building that we trained at. Also, they have put down a nice mat. I taught my first class there on Wednesday night. I've been thinking of different drills and things that can now be done with all this extra room. I'll have pictures this week since they put down the mat just last Friday.

The training continues for Buffalo Springs on June 27th. I've been able to get some rides in over 50 miles and have some good mid length rides on Thursday. This past weekend I did the North Loop for the first time. It was a challenging route with plenty of climbs. The descents were bumpy due to the chip seal roads. It made recovery on the downhills not so much of recovery.

It's now just two weeks away until the Memphis in May triathlon in Tunica, MS. Hopefully, the flooding on the Mississippi doesn't cancel the race. As of May 1st, the race is still on. The race is located outside of the levee.

Also, last weekend I went to a crawfish boil at my parents house. It was nice eating crawfish again and meeting some new people in their area. Also, It made me excited for summer. The lake sure looks nice for a swim!

Just an Update - St. Louis/Tunica/Races

Things have been pretty uneventful lately. I haven't run any races in a couple of weeks and have only been out of town once briefly. Tomorrow I go to St. Louis. I'm not sure if I'll be leaving either on Saturday or Sunday? It's still up in the area. If I'm able to get back in Arkansas on Saturday, I may head to Hot Springs for a trail race. If not, the next race that I will run might be the Spring Fling 5K. The one distance race I haven't run in awhile is a 5K. I haven't run one since 2009! This will be interesting if I get the chance to run this.

The week of the 14th. I get to spend a week in Tunica, MS for a sales meeting. While I enjoy a night a gambling, it will be a long week there. I will take the opportunity to ride the Memphis In May bike course. While I know it will be flat, it will give a good chance to check my fitness level.

Other than that, I've just been living it up here in Conway.