Heritage Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Rather than have the swimmers start in smaller waves, we went out in two big waves. The first wave was all the individual male racers. The second wave (2 minutes later) was all the individual female racers (and the relay teams, too, I think).

The water was very crowded for probably 450 meters. I was slapped, poked, kicked, jostled, and even run over. Still, I hung to the inside of the smaller navigation buoys and kept going. I felt great about my time!

I wouldn't do much different. I was worried about a 1/2 mile swim, but it went really well.

Coming out on a sandy beach made me a little worried about sand inside my socks and shoes, but they had two kiddie pools setup that we could walk through to clean off our feet. Nice touch.

Everything in transition went very smoothly. This was my quickest T1 to date!

The course started out going up a short climb to the dam road. For the most part, the course was on fairly gentle rolling hills. I was able to stay in my front big ring and back middle (or smaller) cog for the majority of the race... until I got to the "dam hill."

I saw the hill coming and shifted to my front small ring and a big ring in the back, but I made sure I left myself someplace to shift if needed. I gotta tell you, I like climbing, and I climbing the "dam hill" was fun. I passed a lot of people going up that hill, and one woman (who had just breezed by me on the downhill) let out an expletive as I went by. That made me smile and push even harder.

This was my first time to come out of my shoes while still on the bike, and it went really well. (I practiced it about 15 times earlier this week.) I saw the dismount line coming and undid my shoes, popped my feet out and on top of the shoes, and did a running dismount at the line. What a great feeling to know I didn't crash and burn!

The rest of T2 was great. At the MinneMan triathlon in Minensota on July 4th, my T2 was 3 minutes. Seeing a 1:02 split was a HUGE boost. Someday I'll get it down to the 45 second range, but I'm happy for now.

I think I just need to practice changing gear a bit more quickly.

I had the same problems here that I had in Tyler last year. I had major side cramps for about 2 miles of the race. They finally loosened with 1 mile left, and I was able to increase my pace a bit.

I think the problem is coming from eating a GU too close to the start of the run (within 5 miles left on the bike course). It may also have been from having too much water too close to the start of the run (within 3 miles left on the bike course).

At the MinneMan, I was able to run a 7:55/mile. Today it dropped to 8:55/mile because of the cramps. Hopefully, I'll be able to take this knowledge and fix the problem at the Tyler tri this year!

NO GUs OR WATER WITHIN 5-8 MILES OF END OF BIKE!!

I walked and stretched a bit, talked to some fellow racers, and called it a day.


Like I said above, taking in that GU/water too close to the start of the run really screwed with my run time. Learning from this, though, will help me out in the future!


I enjoyed the course and support. But I think a couple changes could make this race fantastic:

1) race coordinators at event early and setup on time
2) smaller waves of swimmers at the beginning