Parris Island Triathlon - Triathlon

I messed u p my garmin 910xt to start the race but here is an exert from last years race "8:26 was true swim time, took :17 seconds to get swim skin unzipped and into transition area. " So I assume my times were very similar as my swim and transition was 1 second faster than 2015. I had talked to the guy at the pool door to help unzip my swim skin when I was exiting the pool. Based on my expected swim time I seeded myself at 1:21/100 meter which put me as 49th swimmer going off but actual results had me as the 26th fastest swim after comparing men, women, and relay teams. I passed 5 people in the first 250 meters and was passed by none. (Last year I seeded 1:30/100meter and ended up 43rd.) I swam hard for 250 meters and after all 5 passes felt gassed. I held the wall and took an extra breath at each of the remaining walls. On the last 25 meters drafted a guy in slowly instead of trying to beat him to the ladder. I was very surprised to see how well I did compared to perceived effort. The pool was mid 70's vice the normal 80+ than I have experienced the last 3 years.

I couldn't swim practice for a major portion of the month leading up to the triathlon because the base pool heater had broken. Maybe if this happens again, I will try rowing machine or weights to compensate. I should have worn lava pants instead of the swim skin to go even faster.

Got my swim skin off mostly during the long run through transition. Dunked me feet in my bucket to get all the gravel off (the parking lot is rough and the gravel hurts the feet and will stay on your shoes and the bottoms of your feet if not shaken/washed off. Put bike shoes on in transition and started running, at the line did a great running mount, clipped in and was off. I prelubed by ears and helmet with body glide since my new helmet the POC Tempor is hard to get over the ears. No issues getting it on.

51st overall about average as transitions go for me.

Came out hard on the bike, 1st 2 miles had a headwind but was able to do 23mph@180bpm. Got through the 3 left hand turns and pushed speed to 28mph@175bpm thanks to some tailwind. On the golfcourse outbound help 23mph@177bpm due to a crossheadwind. I was passing aout 1-2 people per mile nobody close enough to leapfrog with. At the golf course turnaround I saw a guy that crashed cleaning up his bike (took the lollipop faster than conditions permitted) then saw Brad Hipp starting to close me down (he biked 1:30 faster than me), I was worried because he was 11 behind me on the swim and he had an armed forces tri suit; turned out he raced AG instead of military division. On the golf course inbound I held 24 mph@175bpm, took a gu, finished my water bottle and mentally got ready for the run.

Bike was 8 seconds faster than 2015. Push a little harder on the way back, could have got a few 1/10ths of a mph on the back half by holding HR @ 180+bpm.

Had no problems getting the POC off my head which was a huge victory. Cleaned off both feet, I pulled socks on and but on my newton MV3 shoes and was off. Overall was 50th best T2 but struggled with socks slightly.

Nothing, pretty much on par for my transitions.

I peeled the top down of my pearl izumi octane tri suit and with the overcast conditions, the run felt hard. Mentally I was down because Brad Hipp was ahead of me and running very strong, I was worried he was in the military division and that I had already lost the race to him, but I convinced myself to suck it up and closed the gap with him at the turn. I was in need of water at the half way point and there was none like the previous 3 years. As we flipped the course the wind shifted to our backs and I began closing in on the open men and women. Steve Shenal gave me a high five as we passed. Brad and I raced side by side for a bit, at the aid station he kept going but I slowed for a drink and a dump (water was frigid and i jumped due to unexpected cold water). I was hurting bad so I did not start my closing speed like I had the year previous, holding it until the final 3 turns. The last .25 miles I held a 6 flat into the finish, very motivated by Alfred Olvetti and tried to win a felt IA but couldn't pass a guy at the finish line to make it happen.

Run was 9 seconds faster than 2015. Be better with the mental battle. Brad race AG and wasn't even real competition.

Immediately crossed the finish line and laid there until my HR returned to normal. Grabbed a monster rehab and a couple cookies. Cheered for my wife and 2 friends and was very social with everyone. Packed up transition and hung around for awards. Ended up finishing 2nd in military division and got a huge eagle trophy.


limited pool time, travel the day before, and lack of sleep. Course record for me at Parris Island by 16 seconds!


Great race but bring the bug spray, the gnats were out in force biting hard. It was awesome Malone coaching and the US Navy. I took 2nd military division but also would have taken 2nd in 35-39 year old age group; that was special to me because our age group has a special friendly rivalry. Again I started the season off by beating my favorite competitorStephen Shenal, so it really made the training feel worth it. USAT scored the race as 85.135 for me, new record high!