Toyota U.S. Open Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

A good swim - not great, but a huge improvement over last year. The weather actually helped with this some - on the stretch back to shore last year, the sun was rising just at the right time to blind us as we swam towards it. They changed the location this year, but it was very overcast and on/off rain so it didn't matter. I felt pretty strong the whole time, but again had issues sustaining my kick.

Not much - I think this was the best I could swim on this day. I did only run a few steps in before diving, and the bottom was a lot lower than I thought - I suppose I could have saved a little time by running a couple more steps into the water. I would like to get my average down closer to 1:30 - I think I need to work on developing a better kick if this is going to happen.

This race is a little different since its point to point, and you really need to take time to make sure you get everything back in your bag for transportation back. My overall was 4/45 in this - so I did ok compared to the competition. Coming out of T2, I hopped onto the bike, pedaled...and met no resistance - it took me a few seconds to realize my chain must have bounced off on the run out of transition - so I lost some time getting off the bike to fix the chain.

Hmm, I guess start checking my chain before I jump on? I was overall happy with the transition - the bike mishap is included in the bike time as it occurred just past transition. I'm going to give myself a good overall on transition, because I think it was fairly efficient compared to most of the others.

Disappointing. On this course last year I averaged about 19.6 - it wsa on a nicer day, and may have had a tail wind, but I trained hard on the bike all summer and was really disappointed with my overall time. I don't think there was anything I could have done to ride faster today - besides have my chain stay on. Last year I did have a rental bike that I think was quite a bit lighter than my own bike. This year the Richardson Bike Mart said they weren't doing performance rentals anymore, and I think the bike I got - a Trek 1200 that I think was at least a few years old - was definitely not better and maybe even worse than my Novara Divano. I know, its the engine, not the bike, but that was one of the major differences between this year and last year's race for me.

I feel like my bike is stuck in neutral - I don't think I've really improved this year, despite putting in a lot more time, miles and hills. I'm hoping to hit an off-season plan to majorly improve my bike - I think my swim is adequate right now and my run is pretty good. I really want to make an equipment change, too - I think a lighter, better bike would help my performance a bit.

Not bad - was 5/45 in my age group. First time I've gone sockless - that did save me some time, and was pretty quick getting my bike stuff off and racked.

I did pause for a few seconds to chug some water - I could probably have avoided that - not really sure I needed the water, think that was my excuse to rest for a second.

Felt like I was struggling at the beginning, and when I did get going didn't quite have the relaxed stride I wanted. Around 2.25 miles in, I hit my stride and finished very fast - caught someone who had passed me back before mile 1 and dusted someone who had kept pace with me to that point. My fastest tri 5k ever - and about a minute improvement over my run on this course last year.

Nothing - I really hadn't been focusing on my run at all, and to improve a minute over last year was acceptable. Would have been nice to hit that stride earlier - I might have been able to break my PR.

Grabbed a whole wheat bagel half, 2 cookies, some water, and orange and apple slice. Had some protein/carb mixture one of the vendors was handing out for free. Got a massage, hung out to watch the awards ceremony to find out if I had placed - missed by 1:01 - probably my bike chain :-(


My bike and cycling ability.


This is the only race so far that I've repeated - I like it alot. The finish for the Toyota/Lifetime Pro series makes it exciting and you get to see the stars of the sport up close and personal. The event is very well organized - I think there was an issue with not enough buses available this year to get everyone down to the swim, but overall they do a great jog of handling the logistics of a big point-point race with tons of amateurs and major pro prize purse. Only giving it 4 instead of 5 due to the bus issue. The weather didn't cooperate this year, but the race can't be held accountable for that. Hoping to come back here next year - unfortunately may end up forcing myself to do the sprint again to see if I can place ;-)