Mighty Man Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Vicious swim start. Bodies everywhere. This was definitely a swimmer-heavy race. Normally swim is my best split, but I guess there were probably a lot of NCAA swimmers in the collegiate division. Also, I kept punching/getting punched by one guy for about 300 yards or so. It was after the mayhem, so I kinda got pissed about it too, since he clearly didn't have to swim right next to me. I suppose he had a right to think the same thing though.
Also, it wasn't really raining at the start, but about 2/3 of the way through the swim, I felt a lot more splashing. Then I took a breath and noticed the haze above the water and realized the skies had let loose again.

swim with brass knuckles on.

Long run from water to transition area, got pretty slippery. Transition area was still not too sloppy when I exited.

can't think of anything

the hill was more challenging than I anticipated anything on Long Island's east end to be. The rain made for some interesting cornering and the downhill. I tried to take advantage of everybody else's passiveness on these parts. Fortunately, it didn't end up in a crash, so I suppose it's all good. One really sharp turn though, probably wouldn't have been a problem on dry pavement, but I seriously thought I was going to eat it.

nothing, really. i made up quite a bit of ground on the bike

i had to brake a little early for fear of the rain. Also, by this point, the transition had several inches of mud. i pushed my bike through it, rather than i think actually wheeling it through. the guys still exiting were actually picking up their bikes, the mud and puddles were so bad.
Also, i missed racking my bike the first time, but looking at my transition time, it didn't appear to really matter. having your bike placed right next to the bike in/out is amazing.

spread kitty litter down on the grass beforehand.

this course was short, i swear. i ran cross country for 3 years in high school and i never ran better than an 18:40 5k. now i can somehow do an 18:30 in the pouring rain, with some hills, after biking? what also confuses me is that i annihilated my PR for a tri 5k. before this, my fastest tri 5k was 19:14. I did have a guy from west point right behind me the whole time, and we were just picking off the good swimmers one by one, though.
i passed the overall NECTC leader with probably a half mile left, and wondered what he thought, having one a couple of the previous conference races, only to finish 7th once west point and the coast guard academy show up. heh.
also, that kid from west point and i had quite the sprint to the finish. he was a full stride ahead of me when we left the sidewalk to come down the grassy finish. he lost his grip a little bit turning on the wet grass, and we honestly crossed at the same time, but my chip registered first.

absolutely nothing. it will be a long time before i repeat this performance.

drink chicken noodle soup, wade in the ankle-deep puddles in the tent.


the monsoon


i'm really glad we got to come to this race as a team. i think between us and west point, it's pretty clear to all the "civilian" schools that they've got a lot of work cut out for them to compete with the incredible drive we cadets have.