29th Annual YMCA Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

The swim is my strongest leg. I started right in the front, about 2/3 of the way to the right side of the starting line. There was some really soft, smally much on the bottom that was not good for pushing off of, so I lost a little bit of positioning as soon as the gun went off.

I started out hard for the first few minutes, kept it hard until the first buoy at about 350m. I dogged it a little as we approached the next buoy, there were some good feet to follow and I knew I was probably going a little to fast relative to my training. I have never sighted this well in a Tri, because I had plenty of feet to draft off of the entire way. The leaders probably had 50m on me at the first buoy, and 70 by the 2nd.

Rounding the 2nd buoy, I knew that I had to make a move on the now slowing feet in front of me... I shot off to the left of the group and passed several people as we made our way back to the beach. I swam until I touched the ground, pushed up with both hands and ran into T1.

Given where I'm at with my training, nothing. I'm very pleased with this swim. Sighting, as usual, could be better - but I've never sighted this well before, so no complaints.

T1 was my best ever - I got these cool elastic laces in my running shoes. No clipless pedals for me; I have them and will be using them in training for the first time ever this week. So this saved me T1 time. Shirt on, shoes on (no socks), helmet and glasses on, gone.

I had to sit down to put on my shoes... I have bad balance normally, let alone right after swimming a fast 800m.

Ah, the bike. Exiting T1 with only 30 people ahead of me, I was in for some position adjustment. The good news was that I'm a lot better this year at identifying really nice bikes and wheels. The bad news is they still pass me like I'm standing still.

I was passed by several groups of 3-4 riders in drafting formation, trying to catch the leaders. I'm pretty sure it's a no draft race, but there are no marshals and only volunteer on the turns. At least I can look at my time and know I earned it by pushing all of my own air.

I put it in to a comfortable gear and started grinding at about 85-90 rpm. Stayed down in the aerobars and just kept going. There are no real climbs until mile 9, with one short uphill where I caught a glimpse of about 10 riders bunched up, chatting. I was actually able to pass about five or six of them climbing the 2nd, large hill returning into the park.

I had ridden the course the week before in 39 minutes, and the hill posed little threat. But after the swim and the sustained high pace, I was about ready to puke by the time I got to the top. I collected myself and began the descent into the park, taking advantage of the moment to relax.

The descent has several stages, and I made sure to hold my pace in between the steep sections. I was able to hold 24-28 mph for the entire last mile back into the park (maxed at 39.8mph)!

I think I was pushing too much of a gear this year. I wasn't able to push as hard as I would have liked to - I need to practice some TT's to get used to it.

I jumped off my bike too early and almost lost it! I was moving too fast..

The guy on the opposite side of me parked his lightspeed 4 inches too close to the end of the rack, so I racked my bike half on the rack and half on his seat. Dropped my helmet, took a swig of gatorade and began the run.

Swig the gatorade 30 second earlier on the bike.

My pre-race plan was to swim and bike hard and dog the run... I hyperextended my knee about six weeks before the race and haven't been running very much.
The plan was to take it easy and watch my form to try and prevent further injury.

Given that mindset and lack of volume, I was pleasantly surprised by the result. I wasn't particularly fast, but it's my fastest 5k split in a triathlon to date.

My knee felt good although my legs felt like jelly for the first mile. I was able to pick it up for a while but got a side stitch at mile 2. I ran through it, and thankfully it ended up going away relatively quickly.

Approaching mile 3, I grew increasingly paranoid because that is where I injured my knee in the firs place, six weeks prior. Turned out good, and I was able to stride it out for a few hundred yards at the end, for a solid PR!

Not be injured, train more running volume.

Walked around and spent some time with my awesome fans! Ate and drank a ton. Didn't move too much for the rest of the day.


1. Injuring my knee and drastically reducing my volume for the past month
2. Slight under-inflation of tires, no clipless pedals yet


This race is special to me - it was my first Tri back in 2002. The YMCA staff and volunteers were super helpful and very nice. I made a point to thank everyone I saw who helped!

The field is getting more competitive year by year, and it sells out quickly once the registration opens - if you want to get in next year, don't wait to register!