McMinnville City Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was no. 138 of 238 participants in the swim lineup with about a 20 minute wait from the 7:30 start to enter the water. I felt like I had a good swim, holding a fairly even pace from start to finish. There were a couple of choke points if swimmers paused at the wall, thus blocking the wall. However, the lane lines were wide on the lengths so there was plenty of room for passing (or being passed).

T1 went smooth for me. No fumbling with the swim cap like I experienced at the Showman Shooter Sprint tri. a couple of weeks ago. Put on cycling shoes, helmet, sunglasses and ran with bike to the mount line. I arrived at the transition area early enough (a little after 6am) to set up on an end cap, giving me a little more elbow room to work with.

I am considering leaving my insulin pump disconnected for the duration of a Sprint Tri. I'm spending a fair amount of valuable time hooking it back up and restarting it. Not sure that it is necessary for a short sprint tri distance event. I may practice with this setup on a few training sessions to see how it goes.

I gave it all I had that day on the bike. This is the first tri. that I have obtained an average over 17 mph - making a little progress with lots of room for improvement. Considering my limited (non existent) hill training, I'm happy with my bike ride results.

Build more hill training and speed intervals into my training program. Gotta get faster on the bike.

I was pleased with my T2 time. I was able to do a flying dismount from the bike for this event. Slipped on socks, running shoes, dropped bike helmet and sunglasses (overcast skies), picked up running cap with race belt inside cap and ran. I know that I can improve this time if I leave the socks at home.

More transition practice. Practice running short segments without socks and build up the distance without them.

I'm happy with my run time. The course was challenging for me with its hills. Although my goal was to average an 8:00-8:15/min. mile, this race was one of my better triathlon runs. I stopped and walked at the mile 1 and 2 water stations to take water. If I had kept running at those points, I may have maintained my goal pace.

Slow the pace on the more challenging hills, but not to a walking pace. Keep running. Drink water at aid stations and keep on running. Do a better job of pacing my energy on the hills.

Although I know that I should have, I did not do a warm down. I finished the run, went to transition, cleared my area and loaded my car for a quick trip back to my hotel for a shower before an 11am checkout. I returned to the race site after checking out to watch the awards ceremony.


Running more hills and/or running hill repeats for this event.


I thought this was a great triathlon. I enjoyed being a part of it. I feel like we got lucky on the weather with unseasonably cool temps. in the 70's, cloud cover and no significant winds during the race. Team Magic did a superb job with organizing this event. The course was clearly marked, well supported and challenging. While still working my way into middle of the pack for my age group, I'm loving triathlon.