5430 Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Even though the time doesn't really reflect it, this was a good swim for me. Historically I've started front and center to let people swim around me (read: over me). This time I started a little back and after the horn started us, I waded in for about 5 seconds and then started to swim. I think this cleared out a lot of the madness up front. It was still pinball, bouncing off people on either side, but not as bad. I stayed really relaxed through it and never felt rushed or like I was losing my stroke.

The first stretch was tough because it was right into the sun and since I couldn't see the buoys, I followed the people I was near. We ended up a bit inside and had to correct. Also, at the turn, I turned too much and had to correct again to get on line. The swim back in was good and uneventful and I figured I was having a decent swim. Ideally I would've liked to have been out of the water at 15', and when I stood up it was 15:30. I've struggled with my swimming more this year (because I haven't focused on it at all in the off season, or even as much when starting up my training again) so only being 30" off was something I was happy with given that I felt really good throughout the swim.

Navigate better.

Fairly uneventful which was good, though I had a bit of a problem getting my shoes on.

I should learn how to clip my shoes into the bike and do a flying mount to start and make my transitions quicker.

Running into T1 I could feel my legs were heavy and I was hoping they'd loosen up once I got some bloodflow while spinning on the bike. That happened to some degree, but it was still a struggle at times. Having raced Kansas 70.3 last weekend I wasn't fully recovered. I could feel it the most on the hills and especially on the long false flat coming back in before the turn to the Res. At those times it was difficult to maintain consistent power that I thought I was otherwise capable of. Still, this was my best bike split at this race so I'm not disappointed and really feel like I'm only now starting to get stronger on the bike. And it's only taken me 5 years!

Given the circumstances, nothing. It was a good bike time for me with where my legs and body were and I'm happy with the 16th best bike split in my AG.

Came into T2 with a flying dismount. As I started running, one of my pedals hit the ground and popped the back end of my bike in the air. I looked down and saw a shoe still clipped in, as well as my water bottle so I kept running. I then heard someone yelling and looked back and apparently my other shoe had popped out. Oops! I went back to get it (thanks to the volunteer who was running it towards me) and then resumed with T2. Aside from squandering some time there (15 seconds?), T2 was fine. As I was exiting I heard Ricci yelling and saying to the extent of enjoying the run with my legs feeling good from last weekend. I laughed to myself because I knew it was true and had potential to be rough.

Probably slow down more coming into T2 for the dismount so I don't lose a shoe and waste time having to get it.

Exiting T2 I could feel the heaviness in my legs and was just hoping it would loosen up as I went along. Right away I saw Adam in front of me maybe 150-200 yards (he started the wave behind me and passed me just before coming into T2). I just focused on my cadence and turnover and worked to settle in even if it wasn't the pace I wanted to settle in at. I passed a couple people and knew I was gaining ground on Adam. I finally caught him with a little less than a mile to go, but only ran with him briefly. There was another guy who had just passed me and was going at a good pace. I surged a bit and caught him, hoping to stay on his feet for the remainder, but was only able to do so for about 100 yards or so, or I would have blown up. Instead I got back to my pace and carried it home. My run time was 20:43 which is 58 seconds off my 5k PR but again, given the heaviness I had in my legs from the previous weekend I was alright with this.

Once I crossed the line Simon Thompson was standing there and started talking to me so I chatted with him for a bit. He won the race and was 10th in the Athens Olympics. I waited for Adam and then went and sat in the shade.

Nothing. Good run with what I had to give.

Sitting in shade, getting a great breakfast (eggs, pancakes, lots of fruit, pop, jamba juice, beer) and later a massage. I also went and stood in the lake for a bit to get the cold water on my legs. For a "local" race, the post-race activities at the 5430 series are as good as any other race I've been to.


Racing the weekend before.


It's always nice to race in your backyard and with a lot of people you know. I was a bit reluctant to do this as a back to back weekend of racing, but after it was all said and done, I'm glad I did.