Kirkland Sprint Tri - TriathlonSprint

Unfortunately for me, my timing chip fell off at some point in the race, so I have no idea what my split times are. Grrr.

I felt pretty good going out, but took too long to get in my rhythem. I felt fantastic on the last 1/3 of the swim, but by then we were almost done. I was in the first heat, so there was very little swim traffic. Only real congestion was turning around the buoy.

I should have concentrated on my breathing after turning the first buoy. I was feeling good and was not crowded, but was still breathing every stroke on my right side. After turning second buoy heading for beach, I was gaining ground on the other swimmers by pulling hard underwater and alternating breathing

Changes I made from my last tri were buying thin ankle socks and buying Yankz laces for my shoes.... got my shoes on very fast, which was big improvement over first T1 in July.

However, the problem came getting my shirt (sleeveless tank) on. It kept getting tangled under my arm pits, and my hands were TOO COLD to do anything about it! I had to take it off at least 3 times. Overall I wasted at least 3 minutes....

Practice putting that blasted shirt on with a wet body... I wasn't counting on my hands being that cold - I had zero dexterity.

It took too long to get my legs warm after the swim... the long delay at the beginning had my feet freezing. I felt sluggish for the first several miles, but did OK getting up the hills. Since I had practiced on the course, I knew when I finished the last hill and really pushed hard for the last 4-5 miles. I wasn't cold after those hills!

T2 is when I discovered my timing chip was gone.... the race guy said it didn't beep when I went through, so I had to go through again. I realized it was missing, paused, and then headed into transition. Wasted about a minute there..... Due to the confusion with timing chip, I started running the wrong way, back toward the bike entry point - aargh! I had to run all the way back to the race entrance, which added another minute to my time.

Pay attention to where the run course actually starts! I lost valuable time running the wrong way.

I felt really good on the run.... legs felt strong and breathing was solid. I didn't feel short of breath at all. Finished approximately 24 minutes, which I am pretty happy with.

I would have pushed harder with how strong I felt. I ran hard the last 300 meters or so and could have done that longer.

Slight stretching and pictures with my boys.


The cold weather was big - had a hard time warming up, even well into the bike.


The race delay at the beginning was frustrating. All of us are standing in the freezing water ready to swim at 7:05 AM and we can't hear a thing on the loud speakers. It took my wife flagging me down to say that the start was delayed 30 minutes. This got the race off to a rocky start, and I had a hard time recovering from cold hands and feet.

Overall, I felt good about the race and my performance, less the transitions. Those addded 5 minutes to my time, which cost me 100 spots overall. Total time of 1:30 was 300th out of 972, and 1:25 was 200th. Gotta work on those!! Otherwise, I felt strong, and am ready for triathlon season 2006