"Tri" for Acts of Kindness Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

The water temperature was cool and refreshing. I was the 4th starter in our group. The starter checked my number, said go, I took off, feeling string and invigorated. After about 50 yards, I knew I had gone out too fast and slowed it down a little. I think my form suffered some, but not too much. I have done other races in the past where fast starts turned into gasping messes, but this wasn't that bad. I caught the man ahead of me in the last lap. I decided that it wasn't worth the energy to try and pass this late in the swim, so I just settled in behind him.

Hold back a little at the start. I felt like it was a good swim for the most part, though.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/223065142

Found my row and ran toward what I thought was my bike. I didn't see my mat and thought, "Someone moved my stuff! The nerve." I then realized that I had run past my bike. I sat down and grabbed my cycle shoes. I spent a moment trying to figure out which shoe went on which foot (I had laid them out correctly, I guess I was just feeling thrown by the tri shoes which velcro the opposite way). With shoes, helmet, and glasses on, I picked up my bike and ran out of transition. I had heard that tires had been punctured on thorny stuff in the grass in years past, so I carried it until I reached asphalt.

Practice putting my shoes on the night before. Study the transition area better.

The back road leading from the club to the main road is in horrible condition. I went pretty slow to minimize the jostling. There was a headwind on the way out, but I felt the effects of the crosswind both ways. The condition on the main road was a little better, but not much. Between the bumpiness of the road and the wind, I teetered often. This was not a race for me to use the aero bars (although I saw some people using them).

The road was not closed to traffic and the bike lane was really narrow in some places. Passing on the way out was nerve-wracking, as there were cars and not a lot of road to work with. There were also some decent hills on the course, one right after another. I did my best to shift, but it was hard in some places when the wind was acting up. Staying upright was my first concern :) I did see one woman fall on the course. She stood up and it happened right by an officer, so I figured she would be OK. I passed at least three people with flat tires.

I passed more people than passed me. They guys who passed me looked like serious bikers. Some were riding their aero bars and had tricked out bikes. Others were lean dudes who looked the part. Besides, only *serious* bikers are capable of passing me, right? :)

The way back was easier physically, with the tail wind and the elevation loss. I rode the brakes for part of the descents. I still hate going down hills and the conditions did not help matters. I came upon two women who were riding together and taking up the whole lane. I shouted "On your left!", but I ended up having to pass the center lane to get around them. Luckily, this part of the road didn't have much traffic, but grrr.

One last note, my turning was absolutely terrible. I think someone could have walked the turns faster than I rode them. I blame the wind somewhat, but I know that I need to improve here.

Ride rougher courses.

Nothing noteworthy about the transition process itself. A man who entered the area right behind me was on the same rack, and said "I hope you're not a good runner." I replied that running was my best leg. I left the area before he did and he didn't pass me on the run.

Until I learn to do the whole take my shoes off when attached to the bke thing, I think it was fine.

In other sprint tris, I would feel so slow at the start of the run, that I would push it really hard and end up going faster than I should. I went out hard but controlled this time. It was getting warm by this time, but the wind had a nice, cooling effect. Overall, heat wasn't an issue.

There were some good hills on this course, and I passed several people (some were walking). There was one water stop at the turn around. It would have been nice if there had been one earlier, but I don't think it hurt my run.

When I came down the hills on the way back, I felt like I should have felt more of a speed boost based on the effort it took to climb them. I had a minor side stitch, but was able to run through it. I maintained a hard effort to the end, even though my pace slowed down a bit on the third mile. The finish line was off to the side, so I didn't see it until it was time to turn and run through.

Drink a little more at the end of the bike course.

No real warm down. I got my medal and swag bag. I checked out the tents off to the side and picked up some great stuff. The race includes a sit-down breakfast with fruit, eggs, potatoes, and sausage.

When I checked the results, I saw I was 2nd in my age group and the fourth overall female. The top female was in my age group, so I thought she'd get overall and I'd take the age group. They ended up not giving overall awards, so second it was. I later found out that she has raced professionally in the past.

As I left the race, I saw the guy who had talked to me in T2. He mentioned that he had tried to stay with me for a while, but then had to back off. We'll both be doing Tinfoilman next month. It's always nice to meet new people.


Bike skills... This is a recurrent theme for me. I know this is where the minutes are. It's hard to fit good outdoor rides in with the other training. I still consider myself a runner who does triathlons for now and until May of next year. I want to do a Half-Iron next fall, so I will probably shift some of my training to be more bike focused before that.


There were some glitches and hiccups with organization and on the course. This a charity race and I think it's a great cause, so I can look past some of that. There are also so few tris in town that I will probably be a regular at this one.

The short and shallow swim is good for beginners. The bike and run are fairly challenging (much more so than the Tri Tucson series) for the distance.

Giveaways were incredible! I got bags of quinoa pilaf, Kind bars, Caveman bars, mini Clif and Luna bars, Muscle Brownies, Muscle Milk, soap, sunscreen, Paul Mitchell smoothing hair spray, Cholula hot sauce, Plant Fusion protein powder, a travel pack of milled flax (to think I've been traveling without flax all these years!), Twangers salt packets, a Numi tea bag, and Activate vitamin water. There were several coupons as well.