Athens YMCA Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Coach Z specifically said to swim easy and not push myself in the least. So I warned the people standing behind me in line that I was be going a good bit slower than what I had signed up for.

As soon as I hit the water I wanted to go full speed. But I kept it under control and didn't swim any faster than I did in warm ups. Just nice and easy and never hard enough that it felt like I was breathing heavy. If anything it felt like I was going too slow, but that's what my instructions were.

After the 2nd lap the guy behind me caught up and I let him go ahead at the wall. From there on I was drafting; even slowing down so that I wouldn't keep hitting his feet. 4th lap and the woman behind him passed me in the middle of the pool.

I could see her trying to pass the guy ahead of me and both were trying to do a flip turn off the same wall at the same time. I just treaded water and let them sort it out. Stayed right on the guy's feet and let him keep me from exerting myself in any way.

Hit the last wall and was out of the door to the pool before the guy ahead of me.

Nothing. I was supposed to swim slow.

Ouch! The parking lot we had to run through hurt like a bitch! I was running on the balls of my feet just to keep my heels from taking all the impact.

Had to put on my Garmin here which I didn't have to do last season. I need to look into a bike mount and a velcro strap. Other than that it was clean: sunglasses on, helmet on, run with bike. Nothing else.

Find a way to put my Garmin on once I'm on the bike.

Fumbled just a bit as I got into my shoes. I was riding uphill on a rough surface so I'll give myself a pass on that one. Got out onto the main road and immediately lowered the hammer. Coach's instructions were to keep my HR above lactate threshold the entire ride!

Caught the guy and girl who passed me in the pool almost immediately. Next rider was only a few seconds down the road. After a small hill it was nice and flat until the turn onto the smooth highway shoulder. I was catching people one every minute or so at this point.

Now that the road was smooth and my teeth weren't chattering I looked for my next gear and really made some people hurt. I recognized a few of them as I passed; all really good swimmers. Too bad no one wins a triathlon by being first out of the water.

Crested a hill and now it was all decline until the turn around. Dropped into my lowest gear and spun as fast as I could. Hit 38.7 but just couldn't quite crack 40 before thee turned. Passed 3 more people as we circled under the highway and I quickly turned my sights on breaking as many people as I could on the long climb.

Not much is more demoralizing than when you're riding hard up a long hill and someone passes you like you were standing still. I wanted people to realize how much they would have to suffer to catch me and think twice before they tried.

Saw three guys almost take the exit ramp instead of staying on the highway like the sign said. One had to ride through the grass to get back. There was at least a minute that they each shouldn't have lost but they weren't paying attention. Passed a solid dozen people before the top of the hill. I started 88th and was seeing numbers well into the 40s now.

Crested the hill and recovered for just a bit before I went back to the big push. Made the turn back onto the chip seal road for home and downed a gel. I had been struggling to hold LT since the turn around but now there was no chance. I was exhausted and just trying to make it to transition alive.

Kept hammering the best I could and caught a few more before the final turn. Climbed out of my shoes and caught one last guy before I jumped off my bike running into T2.

Not sure I can ride much harder.

As I started to run with my bike my shoes caught the ground and popped my bike up into the air. I was switching from holding it by the handlebars to the seat so everything was already off balance. As I tried to keep it under control the bike leaned to the outside and as it came down the chain ring came down right on my ankle.

Hurt like a bitch but I didn't have time for pain right now. Racked my bike, got my helmet off, number/visor/shoes on, grabbed my flag and put it together as I ran out of transition.

Keep my bike under control.

Coach said no HR goals for the run. Just start with whatever HR I want but be sure to build up as I go. My HR was 155 which is just at the lowest end of my race zone so it seemed like a good place to stay.

I eased up on the first small hill to keep myself under control. I was slowly reeling in two guys ahead of me but knew I couldn't get too caught up in the chase. After the terrain flattened out I passed them both with an easy stride.

Through a parking lot and around a corner I could see the race leaders coming back. They were really flying. The people ahead of me were strung out and nicely spaced. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Lengthen my stride until I get to one person, ease up and draft to catch my breath, then speed up again to catch the next and repeat.

I could feel the pain in my right ankle from T2 and knew I must have done a really good job of being a dingus and hurting myself. I tried to look down and see if I was cut but couldn't tell. As I could just start to see the turn around I asked a guy if my ankle was bleeding as I passed him. "Yep", was his less than enthusiastic response. Okay, only a mile and a half left.

Turned around and really started to put the screws to it. I finally got passed by someone, but he would be the only one. This was much different than my runs from last season. I kept it up and was still picking people off as they were now spaced further and further apart. Finally passed the leading woman before we started the downhill for home.

Sprinted as I got to the field and was damn glad to be done.

One of the best runs I've ever had at a tri, but I let the pain in my ankle distract me.

Gasped for air and handed my flag to my dad as I walked away. I looked down at my ankle and my shoe was covered in blood; at least the dark blue color covered most of it up. A woman asked if she could take my picture and I very rudely snapped back, "Not now!" at her. I feel kind of bad about that now, but I needed to find the medical people.

Made my way to the ambulance in the parking lot and had the EMT clean off the wound. It didn't look to bad at first but once he got the blood and some of the grease out of the way, it was a really deep cut. I was definitely going to need stitches. He bandaged me up and told me to get to a hospital as soon as I could.

I packed up my stuff and left it in transition while I went to the hospital. It was just down the street and we had actual rode past it on the bike course. The wait for the ER was more than 4 hours so I decided to head back and wait to get it taken care of once I was back home.

Hung out at the race and watched my coach kick everyone's ass in the 2nd wave as I sat and ate a baked potato. Perfect post-race food and I don't think I've ever seen a race do that before. Found out that the guy who won my age group was a BTer but I can't remember his screenname for the live of me. Sorry Tyler!

Once Coach Z was done he filled me in that he was watching my transitions and they were horrible. I was in the top 25 or 30 on the overall list, but there's always room to get better.

After the awards I drove the 2+ hours back home, picked up Shiner from the kennel and finally got myself to the ER. Only took 40 minutes at the hospital near my house. Doc spent more time cleaning grease out of the wound than actually putting in the eight stiches. So I'll have a nice scar to remember this race by.


One of my better races.


Very fun race! The new non-chipseal course was fantastic. Fast but challenging. Run was nice and had some good trees for a little shade.

Only complaint was the painful run we ran on in transition, but I'll still be back in the future.