BlogMarch 22, 2007 Escaping Florida with a win Florida's Great Escape Triathlon marked the first big triathlon event of my 2007. 23 male pros were competing for victory in this event which holds fairly high prestige due to it being regionally televised as well as offering good prize money. I traveled down to Orlando two days prior to the March 11th race date with hopes of preparing myself physically and mentally for the race day. Thankfully the National Triathlon Training Center was right nearby so i spent two days doing some solid training there. This place is amazing, if you ever get a chance to check it out, you won't regret it! The Great Escape Triathlon began with a choppy 1000 meter wetsuit legal swim, followed by a rolling 25 kilometer bike, and then finished with a fairly flat but varying five kilometer run. I knew some of the International field included some ITU (draft legal racing) guys from Canada and other countries as well. This meant two things. Firstly, the swim and run would probably be blazing fast, and perhaps the rolling hills on the bike would allow me an opportunity to make my escape! The swim began as fast as expected but had me a little concerned when i was in about fifteenth place 300 yards in. After all the swim training and improvements i made over the winter this isn't where i expected to be! Swimming fairly comfortable the rest of the way, the coffee-colored water made it fairly challenging. It was very difficult to see due to the water being dyed dark black by the mangrove roots. This gave me the constant sensation of losing the feet i was drafting off of in front of me. In reality, everyone was dealing with this issue and i'm glad i stayed mentally strong even when i wasn't extremely confident with what was going on. Exiting the water i ran up the beach with the first big pack of swimmers. Looking over my shoulder i realized there were about fifteen of us in this pack and i would want to distance myself from all of them right away. My pre-race decision was to hammer the bike for the first three miles to the turn around. This was the first chance to see where the leaders were riding. Thankfully, i saw i was in fifth place about forty seconds down on first at the three mile point. This inspired me to ride even harder and within another two miles i went flying past the leader. Serendipitously, there was a lead TV camera on a 4-wheeler and a USAT Official following the race leader. As i took the lead i knew i would not have to worry about anybody drafting off of me for risk of being caught on TV or relegated by the official. Burying myself, the last three miles i established a thirty second gap into the bike to run transition. Five kilometers to run and only thirty seconds on some tough ITU runners, definitely not enough of a gap to ease off. I ran steadily and smooth early using all my mental strength not to look back. At a turnaround point with about a mile to go i saw three guys chasing not far behind. This left me concerned, but i had the confidence that i could run this last mile as strong or stronger than any of them. With 400 meters to go i knew the victory was mine so i eased off a bit and began mile celebrations with an ear to ear smile! Breaking the tape sixteen seconds ahead was certainly the best race i've had so far in 2007. It was a great event, and i'm so excited with the result! Closing with a final 5k run of 15:58 including the final 400 meter celebration gives me lots of positive feelings heading into the California 70.3 and Ironman Arizona. Thanks again for reading and please check back onto www.LewisElliot.com for information about when Florida's Great Escape will be televised. See you all at the races! Cheers, Lewis « Back to Blogs |
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