Tri-ing for Children's Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Welcome back, old friend swim, I've missed you.

After sizing up the course and attempting to psych myself up for another sprint swim, the gun went off and we headed out. I went with my mantra of "long and straight" again and started stroking.

About 100 yards in, the old conscious triathlon racer made an uninvited visit. "You don't want to do this". He whispered. "You'll get tired and drown you idiot" he pleaded.

I hate the conscious triathlon racer. His siren song is powerful, and my will is not. I headed his song and began to panic.

At least it wasn't a complete outward panic, where everyone around me sees what's happening and boats converge on me from all around. In fact, it was a good thing on this day that there WEREN'T many boats to help people. I looked around frantically for a paddler, but none could be found. I scanned the nearest land structure and saw a dock with about 8 people on it to my left. So, I started frogging that way. It was then that I realized that these people weren't race volunteers eager to assist the conscious triathlon racer. No, they were just beer-drinking, fun-loving spectators who would probably just laugh at me. So...

The show must go on. The thought crossed my mind that I didn't care if I DNF'd today. But, I DTFU'd and spotted the yellow buoy and just headed that way. I wasn't tired, winded or cramping, but the conscious triathlon racer bested me.

Or did he. With a combination of crawl, breaststroke and backstroke, I somehow made my way through the course and headed for the beach. It was slow, but I made it. As I waded up toward transition, I convinced myself I wasn't going to let this poor swim do me in. After all, it was over and the rest was "easy" compared to it, so let's do it!

I don't frickin' know. Mentally this stupid swim part has bested me so far in my tri career. But one of these days I'm going to figure it out and swim a 7:30 sprint. You watch.

The transitions were first-come, first-served so I picked a spot right next to other donks (including Chris Bauer, and Scott Goehner) and next to the Bike in/out. That meant that the swim in and run out was far away. Still, I was relatively pleased with this time.

Nothing.

The bike has traditionally been my best sport (nevermind Lake Mills '09). I went into this race with the attitude that I didn't care much about my times. I just wanted to use it as a good workout since my workouts have been inconsistent over the last 3 weeks.

Once I got out there, I felt pretty good. I formulated a plan to get to 18 mph by mile 7 and see what happened from there. At mile 7 I was at about 18.2 and feeling good. By mile 7.6 I was at 17.6 and feeling bad. It was then I said to myself "F it - let's kill myself and see what happens". Result - PR on the bike in both time and mph (19.6). Wow, was I stoked about this bike. And all this coming from a fat-azz donkey with cages for pedals and no aero bars.

Now I just had to worry about the run.

Perhaps give a little more gusto on the opener, otherwise right on target with this ride.

My T2s this year have been phenomenal. I'm considering putting on some T2 clinics for triathletes. Sort of like what Will Smith does, except only for T2s. I could teach all sorts of things like how to unbuckle your helmet, how to get your shoes on (scratch that, I use the same shoes on the bike and run at this point), and how to run out of the transition.

I'm gonna make a lot of money on these things...

Nothing.

As I said to Travis after the race, "The swim is my weak sport. The run is my weaker sport..." Har, Har. Yuck, yuck, yuck. My wife says I have a great sense of humor; Skip that stupid Transition clinic idea. I'm going into comedy.

This run was right there for me. It was tough, but I didn't kill myself and it felt like I had just the right amount of energy. Nothing too excited here, except seeing a biker who'd crashed with the ambulance there to get her. They were putting her on the backboard when I passed. Poor girl - I didn't see it, but they reported she had pretty good road rash on her face.

After the turn, saw another Donkey who was walking. "WALKING IN A SPRINT"?!?! WTF Donkey? Gave him an EEEEAAAWWWW as I passed and asked him if he was OK. He said he had bad cramps. I encouraged him to fight through it and he sure did. Ran with him for a bit before he passed me up (remember, this is my "weaker" sport). Kept up a good pace all the way home and finished strong. Saw Joe Runner during the run out which was nice.


Nothing really. Probably could've pushed it just a smidgen harder, but this was just fine. No PR, but was a good end to my most consistent race yet.

Drank my recovery drink. Got some food and a beer, talked to the Donks for a time and got a picture with my favorite triathlon celebrity, Charles Benson.

Hung out with the donks for a couple hours and watched the Oly donks finish.


My swim = the suck. I hate the swim and want it to go away like I want my coffee addiction to go away.

I hate the conscious triathlon racer and want him to eat it, Potsey.


With a PR on both the bike AND the race itself (My previous fastest sprint was 1:33) I can't really complain. Yet I have lots of room for improvement on both the swim and run and need to pick up some tech for the bike. Once I lick all those things, I should be close to my long-term goal of a sub 1:15 race.