TriZou (formerly Merrill Lynch Race For Sight) - TriathlonSprint

first time in a 50m pool, only swim training was in 25 yd pool @ the Y, so I was unsure what to expect. I did a time-trial @ the Y last week and swam 400 yds in 8:11, so I was expecting to go about 9 to 9:30 for this one. Felt really strong though and despite starting out the first 50m too fast (about :58), I was able to pretty much maintain near that pace the rest of the way.

Swim with the proper group, otherwise I feel my swim was great for my level. Started swimming in December, so this was much better than I could have hoped for.

it's a LONG way from the pool to the transition area. The official time doesn't end the swim until you enter the transition area, but I timed it myself and got out of the pool in 8:15, so that's what I logged. Swam my ass off, not going to enter in 10:16. Took about 2 minutes to get to the transition area, and another 2:16 to get out on the bike. First time, obviously too slow.

practice transitions, run with bike. Course didn't really have a good exit to get moving on bike, 90 degree turn on exit, so almost had to stop,mount, & go.

Hills were tough. Felt great on the flat and slight incline sections, maintaining 21+mph the majority of the time with a cadence of 95. Didn't really press the downhills much, max speed was 30.5mph.
Pulled on a long-sleeve shirt for the bike, it was cool out, and was very comfortable during the ride with the longer sleeves.

hills, hills, and more hills in training. Need to find a good place to train hills around here. Also push the downhill a little more, which I'll be able to do as I develop confidence on the bike and my handling gets better.

just too slow, too inexperienced in transition area.Get off, get in, and get out!!
My position was in the far corner from the run exit, and also pretty far from the bike entry/exit, so my transition times weren't helped by my location.

practice transitions more. Easily lost 40 seconds here. Try and get a better location, but not sure how much better I could have gotten, areas were assigned by swim cap color (basically random), so had to be near where I was.

legs felt wobbly after the rough hills on the bike. Took the first 3/4 mile at least to feel relatively normal, then felt fine. Could have pushed the pace more the 2nd mile, and probably the first as well. Had plenty left in the tank for a strong finish. I think an 8:10/mile pace was doable.

need to add brick workouts in on a regular basis to get my body used to transitioning from bike to run. Push the pace, don't hold back out of fear of hitting the wall, it's only 3 miles. Think I lost a little confidence in my running after the wobbly start.

not much, had some water, walked around a bit, then packed up and headed home. Had some OJ and gatorade, and finally had some real food around 2 1/2 hours later.


inexperience, lack of practice in certain areas (transitions, brick workouts). Lack of hill training on bike.


thought this was a well organized race, ran very well. Lots of volunteers, most of the biking was on busy streets, but volunteers did a great job at all intersections. Not much way around the slow swim start, tough to get close to 800 people through the pool.