Pigman Triathlon - Sprint - TriathlonSprint

As slow as the time trial start was, that's the only bad thing I have to say about it. It really spread the swimmer's out and the start was not as chaotic. Here we go! Every time I go running into the water I always feel like letting out a war cry, but restrain myself, thinking I'll need the breath. Hit the water and was immediately into a comfortable stroke. Before long, I'm passing people. What? Okay, this is new. I'm not going to argue though. I round the buoy still feeling good. Shortly after that I feel someone going by on the left. Quick, grab those feet! I got a good 30-45 seconds of drafting out of him. Thanks buddy! Aside from almost running over a few girls backstroking from a previous wave, I finished the swim feeling pretty good.

I'm not sure. I cut 1:30 off my time from last week, and this had a comparable long run to transition like last week. I was more than pleased with this.

Transition area was long. I was hoping to be under 2 minutes, but I felt like I moved through it as quickly as I could so that's about all I can ask for.

This is where things got interesting. Starting in the 8th wave, there was a lot of people ahead of me. I reasoned that I would probably be passing at least half of the field before I reached the finish line. Passing people is fun only for a little while. Then it gets tedious and annoying, especially when your shouts of "on your left" bounce off deaf ears. I would give a good warning shout as I was approaching and if they wouldn't move I would give a much sterner bark as I rode up their a$$. I pretty much rode on the yellow line the entire time.

So I haul out of the park, careful on the wet corners, flying by people. It doesn't take long heading south before I'm stuck behind the first car on the road. Yes, 700 racers, open to traffic, yeah that's a good idea. Thankfully that delay is brief. I cruise down, do the loop through Palo and head back north. A few miles later I get stuck behind car #2. Seriously??!! I wave at him and thankfully he pulls onto the shoulder after passing a couple of women. His window is open so I yell a thank you at him as I blaze past.

Shortly after that I encountered the only real climb of the day. Ticked at the delays, I get out of the saddle and hammer up. Still had plenty to hammer the downhill too. A few miles later was a 180 degree turn and there I got passed for the only time on the bike.

Okay, just a few quick miles to go and I'll be running soon. And that's when I come up behind one of those big honking dodge trucks with the double wheels in the back that take up an entire lane of traffic. He was passing bikers so his left wheels were kissing the yellow line. There were bikers on the right so I was stuck. I frantically waved at him. Nothing. I debated crossing the yellow, but there was far too much oncoming bike traffic to risk it. So I did the only thing I could and that was hang on his bumper and wait for an opening on the right, all the while letting loose on him with my best sailor's mouth. After what seemed like an eternity (but I'm betting was at least 2-3 minutes) I see an opening and pound past him on the right, just inches away from the truck. I resisted the urge to show him he was number one. He looked like a little old man and was probably on his way to church or something and didn't realize he had stumbled into the middle of a triathlon. I timed it about as good as I could, my rear wheel couldn't have cleared his front bumper by much as I passed the next biker. Dangerous, yes, but I couldn't have hung back there any longer and expected to stay competitive.

I made it back into the park and found complete chaos. Runners were heading both out and back on the left and right sides of the road and anywhere in between. Oh, that and cars trying to get out of the park at the same time. Can you say giant clustrf@%$??? I weaved my way back to transition, happy to get to the run.



Uh, don't get stuck in traffic. I just realized that my description of the ride seemed really negative. It wasn't all that bad. I felt strong and the course was fairly flat and there was hardly any wind. I still love, love, love biking the most. And I love to go fast and when I can't do that I get a little perturbed. But, as with most things I'm pretty sure that everyone had to deal with these race obstacles so it is what it is.

I accidentally knocked my shoe off during the dismount so I had to backtrack and pick it up. Racked the bike, put on shoes, grabbed the belt and visor, and was off.

Was hoping to be under a minute, but oh well.

After the bike frustrations it was good to be running. I felt a little sluggish and first but managed to get over that within the first mile. I avoided the water station because I had a little stitch in my side. Not much to report here. I passed a ton more people and only got passed twice. One was by a chick who was just cruising. I was impressed. I kept an eye out for those 25-29 calves and passed a few. One of those was pretty close to the end so we had a good, nice all out sprint to the finish. I think he may have nicked me at the line, but it turns out he started ahead of me in the wave so I beat him timewise.

Run harder the first mile or 2. Still alot in the tank. I think I'm capable of a sub-20 split if I really push myself.

Walked, ate, chatted with parents, aunt and uncle, cousins, and friends.


bike obstacles


This was my first time doing the Piggy sprint and it was a pretty decent race. They could really stand to try and get the road closed though. Other than that food was great, volunteers were great, and I came home with a little piggy hardware. Another good tuneup race before the half next weekend