Miami Man Triathlon Review 2010

Miami Man Triathlon Review 2010 

Race Website

UPDATED: Photos 

This could be the fastest race review I have ever written.  I can sum this up in one word ABSOLUTLY FASTASTIC!!  Shut up I know that is two words!!  If you want to know how to run a race absolutely perfect go to Miami Man.  They did NOTHING wrong.  That is an amazing statement coming from someone who loves to critique races.

My Results
It was the race of “what could go wrong did”.  Cuban food for dinner (see below) is not a good pre-race meal.  I walked up to a flat tire before the race (bad valve stem).  Then since I was rushing out of the hotel I put all my water bottles in the wrong bag.  Luckily someone tossed me a free water bottle for the ride but it only contained water. 

Caught stuffing my face

 I was using this race as a training race so I was not going all out and was trying to have fun.  I have a century next weekend and two 13.1 races in the next 3 weeks so I did not want to hit it hard.

The swim was great for me.  I got trapped in the crowd in the beginning and got kicked in the face most of the race. I completed the swim in 19:54. I was 28th of 41 in my age group.  Not bad for doing the breast stroke.

About 2 miles into the bike ride I heard a loud pop and hiss noise.  I pulled over and the tire was still holding air so I continued on.  When I was done with the ride my tire was still inflated but had only about 80 psi.  I have no clue what went wrong with it.  The bike portion was done in 1:08:39 with a 19:54 pace.  I would have been much faster if I did not have to stop to check the tire and also was not riding on 80 psi.

Since my nutrition and water was all screwed up my stomach was upside down for the first 2 miles of the run.  Eventually it corrected itself and I was no longer in pain.  The run was not my fastest at all.  I got done in 1:04:52 with a 9:49 pace.  That is a far cry from my 1:56 half marathon PR.
 

Click to enlarge

Pre-Race
Packet pickup and bike setup was on Saturday.  Both ran extremely fast and ran like clockwork.  Bike rack lanes where marked with race number ranges.  On the rack was a predetermined spot for your bike that had your race number on it.

I also got a sick My Little Pony tattoo on my right arm

You got tattooed with your race number by the race officials that day.  No cheap black sharpie but with the temporary tattoos your children use.  And it was done by the good old US Army ROTC guys so it was well organized and ran smoothly. 

Cool Bike Tag

 There was a station before you picked up your packet where you got to try on the shirt and see which size fit you and which style of shirt you liked.  There were about 4 different versions of the race shirt.  They had long and short sleeve tech shirts. And each had about 2 different colors (green/white, white/blue, gree/orange, etc).  There were also 3 different hat styles to choose from (visor and two different color hats).  It was nice to have a choice of what color and style bling you wanted.  And you even got to try on the shirt so you got the correct size! 

HOLY COW THEY GAVE YOU A TON OF FREE STUFF.

 
In the race packet you got:

• Triathlon FL magazine
• Triathlon Magazine (Center Stage at Kona)
• Miami Man mouse pad
• Miami Man Shirt 
• Miami Man Hat
• 1 cereal box
• Chocolate shorts bar
• Shot blocks
• Almonds
• Crackers
• Miami Man small towel
• Mimi Lava Bar
• Mini Clif Bar
• Miami Man Race number belt
• Marathon protein bar
• Hammer Gel
• Cool race number bib with the cool alligator on it
• Really cool shark race cap

Way Silly Cool

 People go to this race just to get the cool race caps.  Each wave has a different race cap.  Mine was a blue shark. Others had orange Nemos, Red Snappers, etc.  They are way silly cool.  They even had the dorsal and caudal fins sticking out.  Way cool.

My large nose makes the shark look like a sword fish.

The expo was fairly large.  There were probably about 20 quality vendors.  There was ome neat stuff to see and buy if you had the coin.  

Pre-Race Meal - Versailles Restaurant
Every time you go to Miami you have got to go to the Versailles Restaurant.  It has THE BEST Cuban food in the US.  I had the Galician White Bean Soup and the Baby Churrasco steak grilled with a Chimichurri sauce. I also had a Cuban coffee and a custard desert.  Super yummy, but not great pre-race food.  But I did not care because I left fat, dumb and happy.

Inside Versailles - Cuban Heaven

Versailles Pastries

Versailles Cookies

 

Versailles Cakes (there were four more displays!!)

Race Day
The race organizer had to fit at least 2000 cars in one small park.  But that was not an issue for them.  They organized each wave to arrive at prescheduled times.  They also broke that down so each wave would come into one of the four predetermined entrances.  These entrances were marked with huge color coded signs.  Then volunteers showed you to a spot.  It was like parking at Disney World.  Very smooth job.

There were more than enough porto-lets and the lines were surprisingly small.

Pretty day and great weather

The Swim
The swim went off in very organized waves.  There was an announcer to keep everyone entertained and to call the next wave.  The water was CRYSTAL CLEAR.  Because of my degree, I have been on almost every lake in central Florida and this was nicer than any like I have ever been on.  It was as clear as the water in the Bahamas.  The water temperature was just barely wet suit legal but I did not use a wet suit and thought it was refreshing.

Look at the clear lake water

The Bike
The ride was flat as a pancake.  Not the most beautiful route but EVERY intersection had cops and volunteers directing traffic.  Swag vehicles and race officials went past me several times.  It was very well run.

The Run
The run was also flat as a pancake with some hard packed trails.  You got to run through the Miami Zoo.  You got to see elephants, monkeys, gorillas, zebras, hippos, cranes, etc.  It was really cool to see all the animals on the run. 

For the international distance there were about 5 water break areas.  Each was themed and competing for the best rest stop.  They had water, sports drink, gels, bananas and oranges.  They were well organized, fully staffed and fully stocked.

Post Race
As soon as you got out of the race you stopped at a booth where they printed you a receipt that had your personalized race results on it.  I was flabbergasted.  Instant results!  Very Cool.

Instant Race Printout

 The race food was the usual.  Nothing special but very good.  Free sports drinks, Muscle Milk, pizza and chicken and yellow rice.

My Biggest Fan

They had five free post race message tables setup.  Wait time was about 15 minutes and they spent almost 20 minutes on each person.  Nice freebee.

The race results for the Du, Intermediate and Half-Ironman were posted by 6:00 pm on the SAME day.  Very fast! Check out the level of details they give you.  Click on the swim time and see the details

This race was a blast and was an A++ race.  Well ran and well organized.  I HIGHLY recommend it.

The cool bling bling

Mr studlyness worked on the girls.  Eat your heart out Q on the Move

A huge Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robot and two studs