CaveMan Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was slotted as #54 and I came in 54th place; however, i know the timing for all participants was not accurate (this will become a common theme for this race - also i was actually 34 they updated times) as I saw several racers who completed the 275yd swim in under :40s..that's freakin' fast. They had some guy with some sort of PDA and another woman with a legal pad recording start times...not sure how this all worked out. So, my swim rank may have actually been higher than 54, but sounds good to me.

The swim went well. They had a group of first-timers from SMU start the race, which was cool. They allowed for enough time between the last of the first-timers and the first slotted swimmer to start. Then right before it was my time to go they took a 45s break to prevent any bottle-necking. I passed two people and got passed by the guy behind me on the second to last length. I didn't really experience any problems during the swim, but I hear it got rather congested later on.




Other than training more for a sprint distance i could've done flip turns, but I never practice flip turns since I rarely do pool races. I'm also not a huge fan of the sprint distance. Overall, I'm pleased with my swim time considering this is the area I focus on the least.

Took time to strap on my watch which probably cost me a little bit of time. I got my shoes on pretty quickly and actually passed at least one guy in transition. Since we were racked based on our predicted swim time, there was a little congestion getting on the bike. There were about 5 other riders right in front of me so i took my time getting on and made sure to clip in properly.

Swim with my garmin on?

I was a little winded after the swim, so it took me a little while to get up to speed. Passed my first rider on the turn onto Lakeside and started to push a little bit. There were very few riders on the first loop since I started early and I passed the first-timers and a few of the swimmers in front of me on the first loop. The second loop was a little more congested. The turn around at the top of the hill caused me to lose a lot of speed because it was a 180 turn. The turn at the down hill wasn't as bad because you made a loop consisting of several side roads rather than a turn. On the downhill portions I was pushing 27-28 mph and ran out of gear in these situations. I probably could've pushed it a little harder going up hills but i was trying to save a little for the run. I heard stories of bikers getting stopped by the traffic cops to allow cars to pass through. I remember thinking when I first saw the bike route that they were shutting down a MAJOR road in the area for this race and wondered how this would all play out...very poor planning in my opinion and a big screw up by Flower Mound's finest. I was flying through that intersection at 27 mph and I don't know that I would've been able to stop without wiping out had somebody tried to stop me and I wasn't expecting it. Fortunately, I didn't encounter this issue.

Eventually I think I'll upgrade my compact setup up front. I could've also pushed a little harder on the uphill portions, but this may have compromised my run even more...so train more? This is my second season of tri/cycling so i really hope to improve in this area by the end of the season and continue to pick up speed.

I got my feet out of my shoes just fine, but I couldn't get both feet on top of my shoes. Got the first foot on top with no problem, then struggled with the second foot. Once I got the second foot on, my first foot slipped off. Got to the dismount line with one my shoes dragging...complete disaster. As I dismounted one shoe fell off. My dad was right there and I asked him to grab my shoe...not sure if this should have been considered a penalty...i'll check into it so I know if I need to go back and get my shoe if this ever happens again.

I need to practice getting out of my shoes while riding.

My performance on the run frustrates me a bit. After talking to my training partner, Jason, I've cooled off a little, but I'm still not really pleased. Leading up to the race I was experiencing some pain in my knee and I tried to take care of it but I was still a little hesitant on the run. I didn't feel it until the second loop and even then it was just a little tightness, but I know it was in the back of my head. My realistic goal was to finish in under 20 min. The official time says I finished in 20:38 (my garmin said 20:58, but I started the run lap in transition, so I can see where the difference came from). I felt like I was running well, didn't push too hard in the beginning and wanted to really pick it up on the second loop. I'll add lap information later to see my paces. I probably could've run a bit harder but I felt like I was going pretty close to top speed. I remember seeing #22 in front of me when I started the run course and I thought about trying to keep up with him but decided to run my own race...should have tried harder to follow him - he had a run pace of 5:55.

I always say this at the end of the race, but i need to get stronger on the bike and do a little more BRICK training. I'm going to begin doing the JC special at least once a week which is a 1hr power interval workout followed by 10-15 min running at race pace or just faster.

Sat around with my dad and chatted about the race. Talked with a local chiropractor who was the guy right behind me and shared stories about the ride. Ate some oranges and bananas and waited to get my bike out of the transition area.


EDIT - Timing company edited the times and posted the updated results - I won my age group; the guy in front of me did not actually swim the 275 yds in <:40s.

Not a lot, but I don't train for short races. I'm really focused on the Olympic and Half distances and only did this race because it was so close to my house. It was fun, but an hour of racing just isn't my cup of tea.

Swim- no flip turns. Bike - my climbing and gearing. On the run, not much, just need to push harder and deal with the bike to run transition better.


There were a lot of things that I think could've been better and I didn't even encounter the biggest problems, so some of this may be influenced by the experiences of others. I also realize this was the first time this race was put on at this location, but the organization puts on a lot of races. The timing was fine for me, but i see a lot of things that are pretty suspect. The bike course was way off....a tenth of a mile is understandable, but >2 miles is BAD. Not many volunteers on the bike course showing the turn onto the final road and I know it caused at least one rider to miss the turn. The decision on the part of the cop to allow cars to pass was likely not the fault of the race organization, then again, it may not have been communicated properly that the racers have priority over the cars. Parts of the run course were not marked well and caused some minor confusion. If they have it, I'll probably do the race again next year, only because it's so close to my home. However, I think I've been spoiled by Keith and the awesome races he puts on in Texas...looking forward to Longhorn!