Sportspectrum River Cities Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

My intention was to start slow and keep my HR in the 150's. I started even and kept my stroke smooth. The only problem I had was people that would crawl over me at the start, then die in front of me. I ended up crawling over the same people that just swam through me. On the back stretch I felt like I was feeling good so I decided to pick it up just a bit. I didn't feel quite as good coming home. When I got out of the water my HR was in the mid-high 170's. Which blew my original plan out of the water, so to speak.

Last year: 16:01
This year: 14:53
Difference: -1:08

Stay smooth throughout the swim. Work on keeping my HR in the 150's and maintaining that through T1.

Good transition. I was efficient if not fast. My HR was higher then I wanted so I didn't run hard to the bike.


It took me a second to get into my shoes. I had the shoes on the bike, but rather then swinging my leg over as I pushed off... I swung my leg over then started pedaling. This didn't work with my shoes dangling as they hit the ground on the off pedal. I need to work more on mounting the bike with the shoes in and managing my effort to keep my HR down.

Last year: 2:13
This year: 1:40
Difference: -0:33

I started with my HR in the high 170's but I was able to maintain a good pace (21+) with a pretty low RPE. By the 3rd mile I had my HR down to the low/mid 170's. That's higher then I wanted it, but its a sprint... so I just went with it. Like I said, this would be a good race to experiment wtih. I was strong throught the first 14-15 miles of the race. I had 1 hill that I stood up on and felt like I pushed up it too hard rather then alternating between standing and spinning and that got my HR back up to an uncomfortable range. When I recovered on the downhill I maintained a good pace. In the last 2 miles I was starting to feel it from the effort. I was resting on the downhills rather then pedalling through them. So I lost some time in the last 2 miles or so.

I really enjoyed the course. I was passed by the usual array of super cyclist and the humming disk wheels, but I managed to pass a few people as well.

Last year: 53:58
This year: 51:19
Difference: -2:39

Again, manage my effort in the early part of the bike. But I love this course and I had a good time.

Comparing my transition to other, I think I just need to move faster here. I was off the bike ok and ran with it around transition and I felt like I had my helmet off and shoes on pretty quick. I was at a bit of a disadvantage in that my rack was near the run start so I had to run with it all the way around the transition area to get to my spot. Not a huge deal, but may make it a little slower then others.

I found out after I got to my bike that I lost a water bottle when I hopped off. Luckily I wasn't penalized. I think I heard it hit the ground at when I jumped off the bike in the dismount area.

Last year: 2:06
This year: 1:47
Difference: -0:19

Run faster?

I wasn't feeling great when I starte the run, but I wanted to build into a fast finish. Looking at the watch, if I could do a run in the low 20's I could come in around 1:30, which I thought would get me in the top 10 in my AG. I started out smooth with a quick turnover and felt ok for the first mile. I wasn't taking splits but just glancing at my watch, I guessed the first mile was around 7:20. I'd really have to put in some work to get around 20 min, but it was possible. I tried to pick it up a little in the second mile and while my pace quickened it became pretty apparent that I couldn't hold it for 14 more minutes. So I marked a guy in front of me that I thought I could catch for some inspiration. At mile 2 I picked it up again and moved past the guy I was following and tried to find someone else. Unfortunately, I kicked a little too early and had to back off in the last half mile. The guy I went by passed me in the last couple hundred yards and I just tried to stay where I was.

Last year: 25:23
This year: 23:40
Difference: -1:43


Run more, don't spend it all in the bike and the swim? I wasn't unhappy with this run. Its just something I need to work on. Like I said earlier, I'm 2 weeks removed from a 4 week IM recovery, so this race just needed to be fun and it was.

Beer, hot dog, cookies. I love this race.


I lost a little conditioning during my 4 weeks off and I'm not trained for speed anyway. I should do better in later races. I had fun. That was the main thing.

Last year: 1:39:39
This year: 1:33:16
Difference: -6:23



My group saw and experienced a couple of instances of volunteers being downright nasty to some of the racers, particularly on the bike exit/entrance to transition. Some triathletes do tend to take themselves a little too seriously and can be rude to volunteers, but there where places where the volunteers where clearly in the wrong and just plain rude about it. Hopefully it was an outlier, because this event is one of my all time favorite races and it would suck to not come back due to bad experiences with race personnel.