Kinetic Sprint, Race #4 - TriathlonSprint

I had a good start. I was in a good position on the inside of my wave and was already setting myself up to be in a good spot to draft. About 50 yards in my left goggle stopped sealing. It filled up with water. I don't know why. I don't remember getting kicked or anything. Rolled to my back, cleared it, put it back on my face. Same thing.... over and over and over. It was a nightmare. No matter what I did I couldn't get it to seal, and I was completely devasted. Pretty soon I heard the air horn for the wave behind me. I think the first 250 meters of this swim were the most ridiculous looking half-crawl half-breast stroke half-side kick (i know thats more than two halves) bunch of crap. Finally at about the halfway point it held. I only had to fix it one other time, right around the top of the triangle where we turned back to shore. At this point, there was a guy from the wave behind me who had caught up. When we got to shore, he was only about 10 yards ahead of me... so that means I kept up with the fastest guy from the wave behind me. It pissed me off because I knew my swim could easily have been much, much, much faster. Not happy leaving the water.

Wear different goggles. There's no real answer for that question. The last 1/3 of my swim, from my perspective, was flawless.

This is my third time doing this race, so I know what to expect. I know you have to run uphill when you come out of the water. I know there is a very short, steep, and usually muddy hill that you must run your bike up to get out of Transition. It helps to know this stuff. Only two minor flaws in T1 were that my suit folded down over itself on my left calf as I was stepping out, and it took me an extra 10 seconds to get it off. Then when I pulled my bike off the rack, I knocked one of my running shoes out into the middle of the row, so I had to stop and put it back on the towel (otherwise who knows where it would have ended up).

Nothing. It was a fluke that the suit rolled over on itself.

Again, I know this course and I know where the false-flats are, where the downhills are, where the turns are, etc... I thought my bike split was going to be a bit faster, but I'm satisfied. I only lost two people on the bike, I know that one was not from my AG, not sure about the other. I passed A LOT of people. At one point I was counting, and then realized it was stupid, because a lot of these people had been doing the duathlon, and they were on mountain bikes and I needed to just focus on riding anyway. The only part of this course I don't like is the first and last 2 or so miles, which are inside the state park. The edges of the road are recently resurfaced, but the inside is not, and it's kind of rough. If you want to pass, you have to pass on the rough section. Rather annoying. I had a great move coming back into the park. For about 4 miles I had been going back and forth with a kid riding a Cervelo, who was in my AG. When we made the last right turn to come into the park, there was a line of cars waiting to get past the little hut where you pay the park fees, so everyone rides to the left of this. Since I knew it was coming, I stood up and accelerated VERY hard coming through the turn, and blew past him and three other guys. Never saw him again. That made me smile.

Not much. I have only had my new bike about 10 days, so obviously I would have liked to spend more time on it. Also, I didn't have a chance to get back out to Plum Grove to have them tighten up the cables, so the gears weren't shifting as smoothly as I would have liked, but there was no skipping, so it wasn't too bad.

Actually picked my bike up and carried it on my shoulder the whole was to the rack. I was a bit concerned with getting my running shoes on, because the flats I am racing in this year don't have a whole lot to them, and don't really stand up on their own (especially with elastic laces). Used some baby powder though and my own little tricked out lacing method and it worked alright. Fasted T2 in my AG and 9th overall, so I can't complain.

Nothing.

My mouth was super dry. The kind where you get that cotton mouthy white crap and you can't spit and you can't swallow and it just sucks. This doesn't happen when I train, it was weird. Being that it was only a 5K, I knew I could just push through it and not really worry about water. I was hoping to be closer to the 19:00 mark, and on a flat course I think I would be. But I was moving good and was making sure that when I passed anyone, especially those in my AG, that I passed fast... that whole "don't even give them a chance to try to keep up" approach. Some guy even came up to me after the race and told me I had a great run. Must've been one of my victims. ;)

Nothing. I think I did it about right.

Found my friends. I love them for being there. Went and stood in the water for a bit. Got a sweet "you're awesome" candy basket from my awesome friend Colleen. It had FUN DIP in it! What is better than eating sugar with a stick made out of sugar? Answer: Nothing.


My goggles. That's all I have to say about it.


I continue to feel better about this each day, but it still makes me sick to look at the results and see my swim rank. 332 men overall. My bike was 44th, my run was 15th. My swim? 226th. That just blows. And it makes me sick to see it.