Marlborough Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Took the swim pretty easy, never pushed into the redline or even close. Just settled into a nice rhythm and pace and maintained for the whole swim. This was the one leg I was most concerned about with the stomach issues, but it turned out to be no problem at all. Tried to find some feet but every time the guy either took off or tailed off so I had to pass.

Swim more in the winter and push harder. I have a love/hate relationship with swimming. I love swimming but hate getting to the pool, and also realize that on minimal (zero?) training I do "OK" on the swim, I keep thinking I should keep spending more time running.

Still gotta work on this. Had major issues with the wetsuit on wrists, I've never had that before. Also need to just move faster the whole time.

Practice and get these quicker for sprints. I think for long course it's not as bad to lose a minute in transitions, but in a sprint it's a killer.

I decided to ride with a hard but even RPE as much as possible. Passed tons of people going up hills. The faster dudes on the TT bikes passed me back on the downhills. I know it's not all about the bike, but I have to think those bikes help. My cornering is also not the best, which was a big part of this course. For this course I'd need to study up on taking 90 degree turns at speed as a few of the turn were at the bottom of downhills. Pushed this leg fairly hard, but not to the red line.

Not much. My riding prepared me for this type of course from a terrain perspective. I could use some work on cornering.

Same as T1, I simply need to do everything faster. I also noticed someone near me had those special lace locks, and they were 10-15 seconds faster on the lacing than me. Probably worth the few bucks to get those.

Practice these.

The hill right out of transition was a killer and really tested me. I did my best to keep a solid effort but the pace was simply atrocious. I was passing people all the way up though, so that helped. On the second lap I pushed the uphill a little harder and then held on through the last mile. My breathing was even and the HR was high.

Run more hills, lose more weight!

Walked a bit and biked back to T1 to get my stuff. We watched team Hoyt go through T2 and gave them a rousing cheer to get their run started. Incredibly inspirational to see them again.


Loved the course, but post race was lacking. Only water to drink and bananas to eat. Seemed strange. There were some kids selling gatorade, but they didn't seem affiliated with the race. It was awesome to see Jarrod Shoemaker there, as well as team Hoyt.