Y Tri Freedom Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Intention was to stay solid but unhurried in the pool. I got passed at the 50m mark by some guy who way over-estimated his swim time, and one other later, but also passed two people, so was seeded just about right. Intended to put in ~1:55 100's, and ended up at 1:52 after factoring out the 15 sec run from pool to chip mat at entrance to transition.

Swim a bit harder? I don't know. I shot out of the pool because I had my HR in a good zone (~140) and tore into the bike, so not sure given current level of conditioning I would hammer the swim any harder.

Finished 14/30 in age group, 155/380 overall

I was surprised that this transition was over 1 minute, as it felt like I was really moving. All went well, quick, even though I had to sit down to put on shoes due to gravel in parking lot transition area (feet had debris on them so had to brush them off).

Nothing, this was a good transition, 5/30 in my age group, 16/380 overall.

My plan was to hit the bike harder than I normally do (this is probably my weakest event), as the bike portion is just disproportionate in length to the other events--you can't go too easy on the bike and expect to make it up on the run, no matter how fast you are. My goal was 20 mph, and I hit that. I spent a lot of time down on the bars, hydrated well, took a pill pack about mile 3 that contained 2 Endurolytes, 1 Anti-fatigue capsule, and 2 Energy Surge pills (all Hammer products). At mile 10 I took about 2 oz of Hammer gel from a flask.

Push harder on the bike. Even though I met my goal, I need to work my bike speed up to 21-22 if I want to place in my age group. Finished 84/380 overall.

Again, due to debris in transition area I had to sit down to brush off bottoms of feet before putting on racing flats. Helmet was unbuckled while running bike to rack, off fast, brush off feet put on shoes, grab running cap and Garmin, take off...whoops, 2 steps and turn around to get race number belt, now off again.

Not much, given that I don't have tri bike shoes that I can put on/take off while still attached to bike, this is about as good as it is going to get...just don't forget race belt next time (probably cost me 3 sec).

Finished 10/30 age group, 73/380 overall.

My calf was a bit tight right at first, but I had spun my legs out the last 200m of the bike course, and stood up in the pedals and bounced my calves a bit to loosen them up, so they weren't too bad. I run regularly in the hot sun, so knew what to expect, and to use all available shade to my best advantage. I got passed 2-3 times, but passed many, many people along the way. Miles were 7:45, 7:43, and 7:06. At start of mile 2, I knew I had blisters developing (I run without socks for sprint distance), a half mile later I knew they had broken, just ran through it. My feet are a wreck now though, two large blisters on each foot.

Even though I ran well, I probably left a bit in the tank instead of out on the course. Probably due to the heat I was unwilling to just push it to the wall. My run pace was about 8 sec/mile slower than my run at the sprint tri a month ago, but I attribute some of that to having pressed harder on the bike portion during this race. Clearly, I need to find some tri shoes that have a nice sock-like liner, as my feet can't take this again.

Bottle of water, bottle of water over the head, cold towel on the neck, walked it out, minimal light stretching at first. Stretched better later on. Had a bottle of Gatorade, two pieces of pizza, some orange wedges.


Heat was definitely a factor, other than that, just my training.


They ran out of bottled water after race, due to heat. Plenty of post race food--pizza, fruit, pretzels, frozen treats, Gatorade, sodas, etc.