Finger Lakes Triathlon - September 9, 2012

Canandaigua Lake

Today I competed in the Finger Lakes Triathlon in Canandaigua, New York. I grew up in Canandaigua and graduated from Canandaigua Academy in 1969. I didn’t spot any of my old classmates on the course. Finger Lakes runs both a sprint and an intermediate distance (.9 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6.25 mile run) triathlon simultaneously. I ran in the intermediate distance event. It was another perfect day of weather, with light winds and temperatures in the 60s.

This was the best intermediate distance race I have run. I finished in a time of 2 hours 50 minutes and 1 lousy second. I would have broke 2:50 but there was another runner who was finishing her sprint triathlon just ahead of me and I slowed down instead of racing past her at the finish line.

I was certain I would finish in the top 3. Last year that time would have beaten the 2nd place finisher by ten minutes, but this year there were 3 really good athletes ahead of me. I finished fourth, but I ran a good race so I’m satisfied.

I had a few sighting problems on the swim (they need more buoys!) and that slowed me somewhat. I had a strong bike segment finishing with an average speed of 19.5 miles per hour. There were no mileage markers on the run, so I didn’t know how fast I was running, but I tried to keep up a strong, steady pace and I finished the 5K in 50:32, an 8:08 minutes/mile pace.

This was probably my last race of the season. This year I competed in the 70.3 Ironman in Galveston in April, a half-marathon in Wisconsin in May, the Ironman in Coeur d’Alene in June, the 70.3 Ironman in Benton Harbor, Michigan in August and then last week the sprint triathlon in Skaneateles and now this intermediate distance race in Canandaigua.

With the exception of Galveston, where I suffered from the heat and humidity, I would consider all the races to be successful. I didn’t have top finishes in any except for the Wisconsin Half, but there is a lot of good competitors in my age group, so I just have to get faster (or out last them).