Rotary Pineapple Man Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

2nd wave out (+5min), and I was actually in the midst of it all at the 1st buoy. Water was shallow this year (~5ft deep at the buoy) and people were actually walking around the buoy so I went wide and it was still crowded. After the turn I had no issues and picked up a draft and settled in. I actually felt like I was swimming slower than I should but recalled that drafting is so much easier than fighting the water on your own. Also had someone drafting off me that was doing a good job staying just off my feet. Then about 50 yards from the 2nd buoy it started getting busy again with swimmers doing recovery, etc. I actually ran up on my draft lead as he had to check up, because of what looked like several swimmers just barely moving along. I went wide at this point as I could see that the 2nd buoy was again busy up close. Caught another draft heading in on the last 100 yards. Felt good getting out and jogged up to T1. I was definitely was not 29/36 out of the water as several guys passed me running up to the T, as did the lead women too!

Other than going out a lot harder not much. It gets so busy on the shorter tight turn courses with 100+ swimmers in each wave.

Not too bad, 2nd best T1 overall here yet 20 sec slower than last year when I had an ideal end rack spot.

Nada, went with the flow around me, 17/36. Maybe I can start training without socks and see how it goes.

My best ride yet on this course. Very light headwind heading south and worked it hard once I got settled. No issues heading out passing many riders along the way. As I was approaching the turn, traffic cops were letting a bunch of cars go through. Made the turn and saw that the cars weren't that far ahead of me and brake lights on. They were having issues with a pack of riders that were 3-4 wide (not really passing) and they were holding up the traffic. I realized that was catching them and the cars so I hammered it and then actually caught the draft off of the vehicles as I approached. I passed 3 cars on the right and when I caught the riders I yelled "car back" and "on your left". The morons finally started to get back into line when they realized there are other riders out to make a pass. All this got my adrenaline up and I continued to hammer the ride and speed did not drop below 21 for a long time. Had no issues with the dismount and jumping off the bike.

Put on the race wheels! I never got them ready to put on.

Grabbed my baggy of solid ice and stuck it in my back pocket of the trisuit and put on my hat. Wasted some time searching for my gel as I forgot to hit it before the start of the swim but it wasn't to be found. Oh, and remember that I had no running shoes, the family was over by the T exit and as I ran up to them I told my wife to throw them over the fence! Stopped to slip them on real quick and off I went.

Slowest T2 here in the last 3 races, forget about the Gel and bring shoes!

Solid ice is cold and it felt great! Had it in my back pocket as it was too big for putting under my hat until it melted down after 2 miles or so. They had the distance markers at 0.5,1.5, 2.5 and 3 miles points and didn't track the intervals other than the 1st half mile was at 9 min pace. At 1.5 mile dumped some water on my head and took a drink and settled in for the run by picking up the pace. Ran up on 3 high school kids separately and told each that they were doing a great job (they were each dying!). Overall the run felt good and I pushed the last mile the best I could given the limited run training I've been doing this year, slowest run time by far for the last 3 races, 3.5min off of last year, 2min off of 2 years ago.

Not much, just need to pickup the run training as time goes by.

I got some water and went to the family near the finish line. Talked to several other triathletes I knew and ate my bar.


Lack of run training, didn't start to be serious again until ~ 8 weeks ago.


For a "C" race this was a nice surprise for me with a best swim and bike on this course, I was thinking a 1:35 or so for sure. Looking forward to the race in upstate NY in July.