Lake Chaparral Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I started towards the back, and was constantly running into feet and slowing because I was blocked. I was also getting a lot of water in my face as I tried to breath sometimes and got a few mouthfulls, but kept going. I swam towards the outside of the pack and went wide around the bouys to avoid the crowding though I still seemed to have lots of company. I tried to save my energy for later and didn't push too hard during the swim. They had people to help us out of the water but the ramp was very slick and I still slipped once, catching myself on my hands.

Seed myself forward more, still to the side, and take my chances with a faster start. I think I lost a lot of time in the crowd during the first couple of legs.

T times were included in the bike leg so this time is an estimate, or at least my best wild guess.

The new tri top was great. No toweling required. Cap and goggles off, helmet and glasses on. Paving from the boat ramp to my bike so feet were clean enough already that I just sat and pulled on socks and shoes. Grabbed a belt with a drink bottle full of gatorade and a seperate race belt with my number on it. Short run to the mount line, jumped on, and found my chain was off the inside of the front gears...? The shifter wont put it there and it never derails like that so how that happened, I don't know, but it only took a few seconds to get it back on the gears.

Check or watch my bike and my stuff more carefully.

T times were included in the bike leg so this time is an estimate, or at least my best wild guess. The original total was 49:32.

There were very few mountain bikes there besides mine, and a lot of very pretty rides. I got passed by some people near the start of the bike and passed a few too. I pushed too hard into some of the hills though I tried to be careful of that. Through the middle of the ride only a few caught me and I spent most of the third quarter of the race chasing down one guy with no one else near us. I was bracing my forearms against the climbing bar ends on my mountain bike to lay down into the wind sometimes. That's quite unstable and I have to get up again to reach my brake or shifter but it seemed to help going downhill into the wind. I finally got him and then I passed several more near the end.

Note: My bike computer and Gmap Pedometer both say the sprint bike course was almost 22km. Doesn't make much difference except that my actual speed was probably higher than what's shown here.

Ride lots. I let my bike training slide to work more on my running and swimming over the last couple of months.

T times were included in the bike leg so this time is an estimate, or at least my best wild guess.

Quick change. I'm still using cages on my flat bike pedals so I was already in my running shoes. Bumped another bike, knocking a helmet off it, and fumbled a bit while putting it back.

I should have had a drink of water in T2 but forgot while messing around with the neighbor's stuff.

The run was my worst event, compared to the rest of the field, but it was also a 5k personal record for me so I was quite happy. I didn't take any water with me and forgot to drink in T2, but I didn't feel too thirsty. Good thing it wasn't really hot out.

Especially now that I've been pushing my bike cadence up, I'm holding the run cadence up better too. My strides still seem way too short but my HR goes through the roof if I stretch out with the high turnover. One guy passed me and I held his pace for a bit but then he started walking so I ran on. A bit later he passed me again and pulled slowly ahead, though he was still in sight when he made the final turn towards the finish line. I'm not sure but it may have been the same guy I chased down during the bike.

Get a drink to start, but otherwise I was happy with the run. I knew it was my weakest event and it's been improving steadily.

Walked around, stretched, and had some fruit: bananas, watermellon slices, and quartered oranges. I got more fruit several times and there was still lots left after the last racers finished. The booth serving samples of a protien recovery drink closed fairly quick but not as fast as the booth serving samples of beer ran out. Then they set up buffet tables in the parking lot, serving lasagna and salad with dinner rolls, before starting the prize draws and awards. After that spread I didn't mind helping a bit when they asked for volunteers to help take down some of the fencing, etc.


Lack of a running base and not enough time swimming yet. Trying to work on my weak sports cut into my time and energy for bike training, but I think I found a pretty good balance. Getting a wetsuit and a better bike might help a bit too.


Swim course change at the last minute and because of that they split the male and female sprinters into two waves just before the pre-race meeting. The Oly was already split that way and separated by an hour. They started the lady sprinters a half hour early and the men were still ahead of the originally posted schedule. I thought it all worked pretty well though and enjoyed the race. They had some great prize draws like a wind trainer and a bike shipping box as well as lots of small stuff. Kind of a neat system for the draws too... if someone wasn't there they added another prize to the pile and called a new number. Some people got armfulls of stuff. They didn't go nuts though, if a pile already had a big prize or too much stuff, they just called numbers till it went. I had fun, but wished my wife could have been there.

I found the website of a photographer that I noticed at the event. He has a few pictures of me though, for some reason, mostly from the run. Not great pictures, but the only one's I know of online.
http://www.yourphotofinish.com/race_photos/050814/050814s_2.php?bib...