Atlantic City Triathlon

The Atlantic City Sprint and International Triathlons took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey, as the name implies, on Sunday, September 14th.  I just happened to be in the area for work so I thought I'd check it out.  I thought about signing up for the 1-mile swim but decided against it since I still had thoughts of Shark Week in my head.  The fact that I hadn't swam a meter since May also might have affected my decision.

I found the course maps on the event website.  In addition to the triathlons, the event also includes a 5K and 1-mile Stand Up Paddle (SUP) and prone paddle competitions and 1-mile swim.

Swim Course

Sprint Bike Course

International Bike Course

Run Course

I woke up early on Sunday morning.  Not early enough to see the start of the race but early enough to see some of the competitors still in the water.  The weather for the race was perfect.  The skies were blue and the thermometer on my car showed that the air temperature was 56-degrees at around 8:00 a.m.  There was a brisk wind from the north, but isn't there always!

Participants on the swim course make the first of two turns 

More swimmers

After I took the above pictures of the swimmers I walked around to the swim start where I was able to see some participants walking 150' or so beyond the start.  It must have been low tide... or they were very tall.

Participants exit Bader Field onto the bike course

More participants exit Bader Field onto the bike course

Participants exiting T-1 at the mounting line

After only twenty minutes or so of walking around by myself I decided that I'd had enough so I left.   Clearly these races are far more fun for the participants than they are for the spectators.  This is especially true for wave start races where the folks on the sidelines have no idea of knowing who is in the lead.  I promptly called my wife and informed her of my epiphany.  She was glad that I finally came around to her way of thinking or at least acknowledged her misery.  Of course, I didn't know anyone that was competing.  I'm sure that I would have been more captivated if I was there supporting someone or if I had raced.  I'll often walk up the course from the finish line of a race I've just completed to cheer for the folks finishing behind me.  I'll also congratulate those racers that finished before me, if I have the opportunity.

Did I mention it was 56-degrees... and windy?  I think I did!

Find out more about the race here at Delmo Sports and see the results here.

Thanks for reading.

Margate/Ventnor 10K

I'm back in New Jersey and after a 2 week hiatus from travel and running.  I did run 4 miles during the past 2 weeks but it's hardly worth mentioning.  I was actually repainting the 15K course mile markers for the race near my house on November 8th and the time got away from me.  By the time I started my run it was after 12:30PM and the temperature had climbed into the 92-degree range.   Garmin says it was 84-degrees but they're wrong.  I only had 4 miles in before I quit.

My pre-comeback run routine featured 20 minutes of stretching.  I had been experiencing some pain in my left knee for the past 2 days.  Since I hadn't been running I can only assume that my knee pain was caused by sitting on the couch.  Fortunately, I didn't feel anything of concern when I finally hit the road.

My route started at the Ventnor and Margate, New Jersey city limits.  Ventnor has the boardwalk and Margate has the bike lanes.  I ran south through Margate on Atlantic Avenue to the point where the road ends.  That was 5K.  From there I did a turn-around and headed back to the start for a full 10K.   The beach season is almost over so there were fewer runners and cyclists than I've seen previously.   It's still my favorite place to run in New Jersey so far.

The wind was strong from the northeast. I checked the AWOS site at Wildwood, NJ after my run thinking that it would better reflect what I was feeling than would the KACY site information used by Garmin.  I was right.  The difference was notable. The KACY site is located near the casinos and for some reason doesn't show the same wind speed as the Wildwood site.  Atlantic City showed a 10MPH wind and the Wildwood site showed a 17MPH wind with 24MPH gusts.  That's why the flags were standing straight out.

The wind obviously had a direct effect on my performance.  The first half of my run was with the wind and the second half was against it.  I should have hit the lap button on my Garmin watch at the 3.2-mile point so I could compare apples to apples or miles to miles, since I didn't, a comparison of miles 1 and 2 to miles 5 and 6 should best show the effects.  My heart rate between the two shows a difference of over 10 beats per minute.  Even with my increased heart rate my pace slowed significantly running against the wind.

They say drafting during a foot race can provide 5% in energy savings.  I didn't have anyone to draft behind during this run.

I think I'll submit this run as part of my "resume" for the Ragnar Atlanta Trail team.

The next day I ran from the same starting point going north on the boardwalk through Ventnor into Atlantic City and back.  It was again, 5K out and 5K back but this time I had some company.

It was a nice run too.  The weather was perfect.  The boardwalk had only a few people on it so late in the season.   It was only when we neared the casinos that we saw a concentration of walkers.

Scott, Mickey, Devin, Anthony, and me on the Ventnor, NJ Boardwalk

Thanks for reading.