It was a very short swim, so I just wanted to make sure I didn't go too hard and be out of it when getting out of the pool just to save 5-10 seconds that I'd then give right back up in transition. So I seeded myself pretty conservatively saying I'd do the swim in 4:00 or 1:20/100m.

Jumped in and started pulling hard but staying long and smooth, keeping turnover down and controlling the effort. Caught the guy in front of me by 75 yards in. Next turn he goes under me off the wall to pass the guy in front of him. So now I'm behind a different guy, but I recognize his kit and know that he's not slow so I figured there was a big backup. Not wanting to waste energy to pass for no reason I just sat in and drafted the rest of the way, taking big breaths on every open turn.

Finished feeling great and ready for the bike.

Nothing really. I didn't think I was competing for overall win (which I wasn't), and I really wanted to test my bike and run fitness. In future races once my run hopefully gets faster, I'll have to start dropping the hammer on the swim but for now in a race of this distance it's just not worth it.

Good T1. It was quite a long run to your bike, then a decent run with your bike before you mounted, so all times were high. Fastest was 1:57, so my time was good.

I started the swim around 12th, didn't pass anyone on the swim, then beat everyone but two people out of transition, so it was a good T1.

nothing

Got into my shoes pretty flawlessly this time, which surprised me since I hadn't practiced in a while. Got up to speed and passed by my family which was posted up in front of my neighborhood.

Looked down at the Garmin and it was giving me speed but no cadence or power. I was doing right at 25mph which was my goal, and at first figured, what the heck just race. Luckily I came to my senses about 6 minutes into it and power cycled the garmin, and the sensors paired up and I had data again.

Rest of the bike was pretty uneventful. Passed one guy, never saw the guy I figured was going to win the race (he won last year too), and never got passed. Kept my watts right at my planned 275, and never really had any trouble holding it. Looking at the data later, looks like I tailed off ever so slightly at the end so I should have trusted my RPE when I thought it felt too easy at the end.

Nothing for this race. My bike and run fitness hadn't been tested for a while so I wanted to see how I'd run off 275 watts. Next time I may push it and hold 300 just to see what happens.

I don't have an official T2 time as my chip didn't register leaving transition. I I just backed my T2 time out from my garmin run time vs my race run time that included transition.

This was a good T2 for me, only 7 or so people transitioned faster.

Nothing.

This was the big unknown for me. I knew what to expect on the swim. I knew I could hold 275 watts on the bike no problem. But I had no idea how I would run for two reasons. I haven't ran fast since my last sprint tri in September. I'm much fitter now. But I also didn't know how I'd run off of 275 watts.

My plan was to just run as hard as I could. I figured the benefit to my massive IM volume was that I wasn't going to blow up on a 3 mile run (or I hoped). Took off running, and every time I looked down at the watch I was sub 6:30. I was pretty thrilled. There was no one around so I was basically just running against myself. The only guy in front of me was going to run sub 6/, so I knew I wasn't catching him. I looked back about halfway through and didn't see anyone, so it was looking good for me to come in 2nd overall. I was able to maintain my speed the whole way.

After the last turn, the final few hundred yards are on gravel. I was running fast enough that I was affecting my footing but just kept pushing. About 100 yards from the finish I hear gravel footsteps behind me. I look back and there's a guy right there!! Crap!! Anyway we sprint to the finish and he gets me by 6/10th of a second. Turns out he started the swim way after me and actually beat me by over a minute and ran 5:29/mile so I didn't feel so bad after that, especially since he wasn't in my age group. ;)

Nothing, this was an amazing run for me. It's very encouraging that I am getting faster on the run too, even though I never run fast in training.

My last sprint tri I ran 3 miles at 6:56/mi pace, so this was quite an improvement. And that run was off only 234 watts.

I set PRs on: 400m, 1/2 mile, 1k, 1 mile, 2 miles, and would have set a 5k PR by over a minute (and been sub 20 minutes) if the race had been a couple tenths longer.

Nothing special. I knew a couple of guys in my age group started the swim before me, so when I got to the line and confirmed that there was only one guy in front of me on the bike/run I figured I'd won my age group. Hung around a froze my arse off waiting for awards. Got a cool First Place pilsner glass (race finished up at the local brewery), which later in the day I enjoyed a few beers out of.


Knowing my fitness limits. More experience biking hard then running will help me dial in my perfect sprint tri wattage. Also could have gone for it on the swim, but I think my decision for this race to take it easy was sound.

And as always, just my base fitness. If I want to compete for overall podiums I've got to continue to get faster on both the bike and the run, but especially the run.


This race was super short. Bike ended up only being 10 miles and the run wasn't even 3. The bike course was changed when we picked up our packets, then it was changed again race morning. It shouldn't be that hard.