West Point Lake Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

The swim was considerably longer than the 600 yards it was supposed to be. I would estimate the swim distance at closer to 800 yards. I felt pretty good out there, but it seemed to take forever to hit the first buoy. There were 4 waves for the sprint and the wade in start was not bad at all. There was minimal battling in the first 200 or so which was nice. I was only held up once by a slower swimmer in front of me when I had to slow and wait for a space to pass.
My sighting was very good as I had no trouble finding the buoys - they were just so far away! After the first turn, we got some chop coming from the direction of the Olympic course which merged with ours right before the exit. For the first time I actually concentrated on limiting my kick in the last 200 or so to conserve energy for the bike. I usually exit the swim conmpletely exhausted and with a big headache, but this time I felt okay and no headache.

Nothing really. I plan to continue my current swim training as the swim felt better than in my previous races.

T1 was an area of marked improvement for me as I am usually very slow after exhausting myself in the swim. This was the first triathlon that I was able to jog up the ramp and into transition. T1 is becoming more comfortable for me as I don't have to think so much about what I am doing. Since I am used to seeing 3:00+ times in T1, I was pretty stoked about this time. I slipped on my socks and bike shoes without issue, slipped on my tri-top (with some issue), threw on my helmet and jogged my bike to the loading zone.

Nothing - I am confident that I will continue to improve in this area. I would like to get under 1:30.

Bike is typically my weakest leg due to lack of training. I have ridden more often and longer lately, but still do not get any hill work in because I stay on the SCT to avoid street traffic. I am okay with that so long as I continue to get a little faster each race. This was my best MPH average yet so I am satisfied with the result. My goal was to break 18 MPH average, so I am happy with my time- especially since my odometer measured the course as a tad long so I was right on my goal speed.
Also, toward the end of the ride I purposely held back a little to get ready for the run, which is my favorite and strongest leg.

Keep training and maybe push a little harder in the middle portion of the ride.

I was very pleased with my T2 time as well as this is the first time I have clocked under a minute (barely!). My transition times have gotten progressively better each race, so I feel pretty good that it is all about practice and now that I have done a handful of races, I have decent times in transition.

Nothing - I use regular laces but just keep them tied and slip my feet in my shoes. I have never had a problem with this. I also spend an extra few seconds grabbing a piece of chewing gum before the run. I know it is weird, but I always run while chewing gum as it keeps my mouth from drying out. For the first time, I didn't forget or almost forget to remove my helmet too! I hope to continue to slash my T2 times each race.

I was a little disappointed with my run time as my goal was about a minute faster. The only racer to pass me was one of the really fast Olympic guys - and he was flying! He must have been on sub 6:00 pace, uphill too. I caught about 10 sprint racers, but with about a mile or so to go, there was nobody left for me to chase as there was a huge gap between me and the racers in front of me. This kind of hurt my morale and caused me to let us a bit. I think not having my ipod also cost me about 30 seconds - I can't stand listening to myself huff and puff while running.

Not really sure about this one...I liked the way the course was set up - especially the way that you could grab water/Gatorade twice during the run since it was a little ways before the turn-around. That was a smart instead of having the water stop right at the turn around where you could only visit once.

Stretching while waiting for Liz to finish - she came in 2nd in her age group! Guess who the first place finisher in her group was? Yep - the girl who loaned her the goggles....what a great sport. Kudos to Melissa from Mobile who helped a fellow age-group competitor in need without a second thought!


Nothing - I trained pretty well for this distance and the course was very fair despite the long swim. Soon I'll have to step it up for a longer race. I am eyeing the Callaway in September....


This was my second GA Multisports race and both were well-organized and run very smoothly. It is a pleasure competing in their events. I am still wondering why they were unable to get an accurate swim distance though. That is the only thing that kept me from rating this race a 5.