New England Season Opener - TriathlonSprint

This was so far from my ideal swim. It was a "survival fest" more than a swim, and given the shortened course and large wave of swimmers (60+?), I couldn't have done it much differently. Maybe I should've tried to get to the front before the gun went off, but being in the middle was a mess, so I went out wider to the left on the return in order to get a few open water strokes. The rest was all chop and messy.

I should've run faster up the beach and passed a few people when I had the chance, but the "run carpet" was narrow and I didn't want to be rude or run off of it and risk a foot injury.

I felt mostly confident, not too nervous, but there were some scary moments. Several corners came with competitors right on my hip. I couldn't trust their cornering so had to go extra-tight to stay safe. Also, many racers forgot the "keep to the right unless passing" rule. This forced me across double-yellow lines several times to pass them, and that always freaks me out. Several other riders blocked passing lanes and put me into drafting blockades that could have resulted in penalties at a better enforced USAT race. In the end, I just wished the volunteers and course monitoring staff would remind people of the "keep right" rule. Regardless, I rode hard and was happy with my time given the conditions.

I think I flew through T2; felt great to have the pieces well-organized and ready/easy to put together.

The course was hilly as I remembered it, and kinda strange to include the "lot loop", but at least it kept us out of the wind. The last mile was along the high wall and directly in the cross-wind, so it felt like we had to push sideways to stay upright. I did hold my pace pretty well throughout, but it wasn't until the last half-mile that I got passed a few times, so I wonder if I slowed down? Maybe a little. In any case, I was happy with my time and able to fend off my competition.

I had a bruised L-quad that is still on the mend. As it heals I hope it can be stretched back to a flexible and strong length as it felt really tight during the early part of the run. It did loosen up during the run, thankfully.


Max Performance did another great race in spite of the wind and delays. I had a timing chip mis-read or dud, so I'm not 100% confidence in the S/B/R/T1/T2 split times, but they seem about right. Bay State racing systems staff quickly found my finish time in the back-up sheets. I commend them for doing this on the fly when my timing chip was found to be a dud. I just don't know how the splits were calculated by them unless the chip data was found and restored somehow. Anyway...the magic of computer timing and near-instant results still impresses me! Good race, all!