Race # 36 - Ocean Grove Biathlon - 18:27

I was suppose to run the Teterboro 5K with my nephew Andrew on Saturday but I called an audible and switched to the Ocean Grove Biathlon in Neptune, NJ. I am getting tired of the 5K's in NJ. They all seem the same sometimes and since I am running a bunch of races this year I wanted to mix it up a bit. I planned on doing a few multisport events during the 50@50 but wasn't sure which ones. The senator and Gerry Fennelly planned on running so I decided to do the Ocean Grove race with them.

This was a not a very big event, but a well run race put on by the Jersey Shore Running Club. It was another beautiful day at the Jersey Shore to run. I was hoping to bring my bike so i could get a few miles on it after the relatively short race. Next month I plan I riding 65 miles in the annual Princeton Free Wheelers ride so I need to get miles in. Unfortunately, the senator needed to get home early to help clean for his huge 50th birthday party.

I post registered, got my long sleeve t-shirt (strange for a summer race) and took the banner shot with Ken and Gerry. The start was about 1 mile from the finish area and the registration tables so we had to leave enough time to get there. It made for a good warm up.

My plan was to run a 12:15-12:30 2 miles and then 6-8 minutes for the swim. The swim distance was 300 hoping o get under 19:30. The swim distance is always subject because it's difficult to measure. I made it over to the Willows Swim Club twice this week just to get a feel for the distance. My two swim workouts consisted of just doing multi-laps of 100 meters totaling 800. I just needed to get the confidence that I could cover that distance without tiring.

This race was slightly different than the normal race which included a swim because the swim was after the run. In 99% of all tri's the swim is first. This meant I was going to sprint 2 miles which would had my heart rate up to 160 then i needed to get my shoes and socks off fast and sprint to the water. I was a little concerned with an elevated HR and jumping into the cold ocean.

The start went off on time and my heart rate immediately was up so I just wanted to get into a grove and start passing people. The course was out and back and back again. You got to see the leaders a couple of times on the course. The run portion finished on the boardwalk then down a few steps onto the beach where I took of the shoes and socks, put the camera down and off i went into the Atlantic. The waves were pretty big so I had to get past them before I can start swimming. Water was initially cold but once i got going, it was perfect. my direction was off a bit but it is so difficult to judge the buoys because your head is down into the water. I headed out of the water a and after a quick sprint on the beach to a finish of 18:37. I was happy with the time and the event. I finished 2nd in my age group so I was happy with the whole experience.

After the race I met Gerry Fennelly's brother, Peter Fennelly who was on the America's Cup team captained by Bill Koch in the 90's. I keep meeting interesting people at all these races.

I will add a few tri's in the remaining 14 races so I need to continue to ride and swim.

I help coach my son's baseball travel team and he had 4 games this weekend so to get in a race, and a swi/bike workout on Sunday was difficult. His baseball team won 3 of 4, which included a victory the Branchburg Championship game.

am 90% sure that my 50th race will be the Philadelphia Marathon in late November. I will start training for that in August and get the remaining 13 races in around the workouts.

Life is not a spectator sport - please get out there and enjoy the scenery.