Buffalo Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

My wave was set to go off 2 minutes after the wave before us but we were slightly delayed as the pontoon that we had to swim around had come off its mooring. The poor bastards in the wave before us had a big pontoon rolling through the pack as they were trying to swim around it. Funny...

Cold water but not as cold as the air. Fairly long run-in. The first time I put my face in the water was quite the shock but that passed quickly. This was a big crowded wave and I did a fairly good job of moving through the pack in the first leg and managed to avoid too much contact. The second leg of the course there were LOTS of folks swerving all over the damn place. I came as close as I ever have to getting kicked in the face when some crazy person was going almost perpendicular to the course. About 2/3rds of the way through the swim was where I really felt the fact that I haven't really been in the pool at all lately. :)

Train?

S-L-O-W. Had so much trouble getting my suit off and then as much trouble getting my jacket on. Would have been a hell of a lot faster had I not A) had to put on a jacket B) gotten the damn wetsuit off and C) used my tri shoes on the bike.

See above

First, there's no way I only averaged 16.4 mph. I can go out and do an easy training ride and get over 17. So I think this course must be long or something? Overall, this ride kinda sucked. Cold, wet, harder hills than I remembered and nasty calf cramps in the last 1/4 of the course. This is where I REALLY could tell that my training has sucked the tailpipe in the last several weeks. Just had no snap on the hils. But the new-to-me ZIPPs kicked ass and were smooth as buttah. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

Train?

Better. Tried to get my calves uncramped a bit. Couldn't feel my feet AT ALL so I probably should have just gone without socks.

Care.

Fist couple of minutes were OK but then my stomach started to realy revolt. It felt like I was going to barf at any moment which I did a little bit. Twice. Not fun. After the second one, I was taking a walk break when Emily came running by and yelled "Toooooommmmm, RUUUUUUUUNNNN" as though my walking was a personal insult to her. LOVED IT! And not to long after that, my stomach came around enough to get moving and kept feeling more and more human. The last 3/4 of a mile or so I was hauling ass prety well. Wish I could have done that the whole time...

Stuffing my face with cookies.


Training


Generally a great race. Big, at 1600 participants but very well organized. Only complaint is the crowding on the bike course and the people who don't know the rules of the road. I almost got clipped by some lady who I'm pretty sure was riding with her kid, which was sweet, but I'd prefer to not crash. And, while its frustrating to have so many inexperienced riders on the course, those experience people should know way better than to pass on the right. I mean, seriously people. Pull your heads our of your butts and ride safely. Will also echo Emily's sentiments that there needs to be some more security around transition if for no other reason than to keep big crowds out of the way of people still racing.