Turkey Tri - TriathlonSprint

Good swim (albeit pretty cold...first time I've gone with double swim cap trick). Caught wave ahead of us within about 150m, eventually passed people in at least the two waves before that. Water was fairly clean and cold, so it was sort of okay to swallow occasionally, which encouraged me to really keep my head down in good position.

Surprising amount of contact for medium sized field and all the room to operate out there.

Out of the water in about 14 flat...ahead of my goal for the race (on paper at least...prior to having seen the run to transition). Then came an epic battle with my aquasocks. Probably killed 30-40 seconds there...made up some of it on the run up to and through transition (which was honestly over 200m)...but the way the mats were positioned, the time I made up with faster running was in the T1 segment...the 30+ seconds killed with the aquasocks was in the swim segment. Taking that time out, I'd have been 8th in my AG for the swim...which jibes with my wife's reckoning that about 6 guys with my cap color exited the water before me. With the time spent getting "shod", I dropped to 15th (out of 49). So it was...on balance, a good swim: ~7th or 8th out of the water in AG.

Try my sandals instead of the aquasocks. Definitely need to wear something in this sort of scenario...I've just got bad feet...no arches...and 200m or so on concrete is a disaster for me. Otherwise, nothing much to change.

Still not a great transition--18th of 49 in AG--but that's what happens when you wear socks on the bike. Wetsuit hung up on right ankle, inexplicably...otherwise, pretty decent.

Nothing. T1 is always a weak spot for me.

Good ride. Passed a lot of people. Got passed by maybe 7 or 8 guys...for a change, I don't think any women passed me. Given how far back my wave start was, I'm pretty sure the guys who passed me were faster riders from the younger AGs on their second (of two) laps.

On paper, I placed better in my AG on the bike than in the swim, which only happens rarely, but the reality is that that's only true because of the inclusion of the impact of my stopping on the run out from the water in the swim split. But this was a good ride for me, nevertheless. Having raced here twice before, I thought anything over 19 mph would be great for me (relatively technical course): Officially, I was at 18.60 mph, but my bike computer suggests otherwise...that the course was long (more like 14.5 miles) and that I averaged closer to 19.4 mph.

Not much. I was definitely working, esp on lap two. Tried to really concentrate on maintaining high cadence--averaged 90 bpm, which is excellent for me on a rolling course--and that translated into okay speed for me this time out.

Good transition...no complaints...ranked 9th of 49 in AG. Long enough run to run exit, that I was easily able to strap on my Garmin 205 on the run.

Nothing...other than see below re today's version of "nothing new on race day"...

I was hoping for a bit better than I managed today, but I'm still undertrained since my hamstring injury in the summer and lost more training to piriformis injury the last three weeks. I was hoping for around a 7:15-7:18 pace, but didn't pull that off.

Exiting transition, they had us go down a long set of concrete stairs. As I was descending, my right foot almost came out of my shoe. I was wearing a new combination of shoe and orthotic inserts that I'd tested with a run on Saturday...but tested with heavier socks than I wore today! Oops. Very conscious the first mile of how loose the right shoe was...contemplated stopping a couple times to adjust the Yankz lace, but soldiered through it. Eventually, the foot swelled enough to ignore it.

Was only passed by two guys (both older than me) the whole run and--by virtue of how far back my wave started--the run was kind of a nonstop procession of younger runners I was passing. Caught at least three guys from my AG that I spotted.

Decent hill after mile 3...made sure I had something in reserve to power up that. After the climb, I came up on a guy with "62" on his calf who was killing it. I decided to try to pass him...he didn't make it easy. Got by him just before mile 4 and said, "Let's go, brother...1K to go." He hung on behind me for awhile...then re-passed me with about 500m to go. I hung with him and was kind of resigned to him crossing the line ahead of me...guy was definitely earning that...but at the last little downhill leading to the finish chute, it turned out I had another gear and he didn't. Oh, well...sorta felt bad.

Nothing, really. I'm turning in slower running times this fall and I think it's a combination of three things: Impact of injury rehab in August, advancing age (6 mos. til I turn 50), and weight. I'm about 4 lbs heavier than last season...2 lbs of that is legitmately added muscle (I more than doubled my swim mileage this year), but at least 2 lbs is useless fat. Two lbs. doesn't seem like much, but the cumulative effect has got to be to slow me down a bit. I'd like to shed at least that 2-3 lbs before IM St. George.

Walked around with Liz. Ate pumpkin pie. Checked results. The usual (well, other than the pumpkin pie).

First time doing this race...had thought about doing it the last two years, but never pulled the trigger (mostly because of travel). Came into this thinking I had a legitimate chance at an AG medal based on last year's results. Only problem? The race almost doubled in size over last year! There were apparently 28 guys in my AG last year...this time? 49! That's quite the jump. Organizers think it'll sell out next year and they're probably right.


The usual stuff. I was 1 minute off my goal for T1, 1 minute of my goal for the bike, and about 2 minutes off my goal for the run. But the place I could have saved 30-60 seconds was the run out of the water. In any case, I was a full three minutes behind the 9th place finisher in my AG, so I wasn't going to be moving up any spots no matter what I did differently today.


Fun race, in its third year. Well organized. Pumpkin pie at finish was a nice touch. Some off brand energy drink I didn't recognize--and didn't like--on the run course. Couple parking lot entrances in the park weren't marshaled and needed to be...one near accident with a cyclist that I saw. But this is run by a pretty experienced race production company and they did well by it.