Four States Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Lots of contact. Haven't raced since September of last year, so the first time back with contact always startles me a bit. Bothered me a bit more this race than usual. Not sure why. Anyway, I'm excited to be going. But some guy keeps on catching my legs. Can't get away until the first buoy.

Still not spreading out. People left and right, and I'm doing a decent job of staying on some feet. Round the second buoy and it's a bit more spread out finally. Of course by this time the swim is almost over.

Swim as long as I can, get out of the water and I notice I'm right next to Matt Feno. Run into transition with him.

Alot. Assuming the course distance is accurate, this was my worst swim since my first year of swimming. I've swam two Ironman swims faster than this pace.

I was super concerned about sighting. I'm horrible at sighting when I do open-water alone, pretty much because I don't have the best vision. So I came into the race paranoid about this and drafting, and I spent the entire swim looking up for buoys and people. I'm pretty sure this is what slowed me down. Not to mention, I was too caught up in trying to swim fast that I was totally neglecting good technique. Too much windmill action.

So next race, I'm not going to worry about sighting or drafting. Just going to do my thing, look down, and focus on getting good pulls. There is no reason I shouldn't be able to swim at least 90 seconds faster than this based on how I've been swimming in the pool recently.

Water was too warm, so didn't have to worry about a wetsuit. Since my dog has torn up my tri shoes, I now race in road shoes. And he's also torn up the straps on these, so I can't get them on with one hand. So I put my shoes on in transition. Fumbled around a little bit.

As I'm running out of transition with my bike, I can't locate the mount/dismount line. I'm running still as I get to the right turn coming out of transition and somebody hollers "You can get on your bike". So I mount, probably 10-20 yards after I should have.

Practice transitions. Practice mounting and getting into my shoes quick. I've quit worrying about these kind of things because I've never really been in contention before. But looking at the results, with a swim I'm capable of and shaving 20-30 seconds off transitions, I could've flirted with a podium finish. So I think I'm going to start working on trying to improve here.

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE riding my bike? I feel such exhiliration when I finally get on it. Finally mounted after my misunderstanding of the mount/dismount line, and I passed a large group of 5 riders. Continued passing people here and there until I got to the dam.

Heart rate was in the high 170's starting off. Just too excited! Calmed down to the mid to high 160's. This actually felt easy, so I picked it up to hover around 170. Kept it here pretty much the entire ride, although it would climb a bit as I made passes.

Passed the guy in dreads who ended up 3rd early on the dam. He passed me back, and I got excited because I thought I might have a legal-draft buddy. So I passed him back again, but I never saw him again. Until the run, that is. Passed Bryce a few seconds later. Saw him on the run too.

Closed in on the turnaround, and I spotted Townsend followed by Funderburke. It was like deja-vu with Townsend. I'm almost positive I saw him at the exact same location last year! Circled around and made it a goal to catch both of them before I was off the dam. Funderburke must've passed Townsend because I caught Townsend first. Managed to catch Funderburke's wheel shortly after.

Right turn onto the side road. Deceptively hilly. Had to get out of the saddle to get some momentum. I had been counting at this point and realized I was in 5th place, with 4th place in my sights. Although he was moving well and I was pretty sure I couldn't catch him.

Turned around and descended. Never caught 4th, but came close. Headed on in to T2.

Not much. Very happy to be in the top 3 on the bike! Managed a better split than Saroni, the overall winner, although I'm inclined to believe he had some problems. He should've had a better split than this. Bullock from Shreveport was only 1 second faster. Ever since he won the Fayetteville Stage Race last year with his time trial, I look at his bike split as a number to shoot for.

But very pleased with the split. Honestly, I haven't been putting forth the bike training I'd like and have been dedicating more time to swimming and running. So to do this pretty much just riding the group rides hard with a few more time trial efforts is very satisfying.

Dismounted with shoes on. Trotted on in to transition. Took some time to get out of my bike shoes and get into the run shoes. Not sure why. Just did. Took off.

Same thing. Actually practice transitions every once in awhile. Practice dismounting and mounting. Seconds are getting more and more precious the closer I get to the FOP. Everybody in front of me has transitions times totalling about 30 seconds faster than me...

Started off, and the stride length was nowhere. Heart rate was around 175. Kept it here for an entire 10k at Lone Star, so I know I can keep it here for just 3 miles. I could hear runners behind me, and I know I'm not strong enough a runner to hold some of these guys off.

Sure enough, dreadlock guy who finished 3rd overall passes me just before the mile marker. No chance in hell I'm staying on his feet. He looked so smooth running. I felt like a tank plodding along compared to his graceful stride.

Blue shorts (Luke Porter) passed me shortly after. He looked like he was struggling however. Crossed mile 1 in 6:40, and I immediately felt disappointed. The cadence was good, but I just felt stiff. Probably put a little too much into the bike.

Maybe 1/4 mile after the 1 mile mark I was passed by Bryce. I've never run with him before, and I was surprised by his cadence. His feet move really fast. Looked efficient. Again, no way I'm hanging on to those feet.

Hit the first turn-around. Saw Townsend. This saved me. I found another gear. Heart rate still stayed around 175, but I suddenly could extend my stride. Finally felt like I was running. He sure saved me from a pathetic run.

I could see that I was closing in on a bigger guy and made it a goal to pass him before the next turnaround. Came close. Just after circling we were running side-by-side. Saw Townsend and Funderburke again, and felt the motivation to pick it up and drop the bigger guy. I could also see I was closing in on Luke Porter. Just not enough road left. He ended up 30ish seconds ahead of me.

Saw I was getting close to finishing, and tried to pick it up. Didn't work. I was spent. Just the way I should be. Always try to leave everything out there, and I pretty much did today.

Pretty good run split. Wish I could've pushed harder without having to have my tri buddies motivate me to do so. I didn't think I had what it took to catch up with the guys who were passing me, but I think that was mental. Not likely I could've hung on dreads or Bryce, but I definitely could've with Porter. And that possibly would've allowed me to catch Bullock.

Still haven't incorporated speedwork in the sense of trackwork. Longview High almost has their track back up, so I'll start when they get it going. But I believe the cruise intervals (mile repeats) have been really paying off. Just got to continue doing this. This should pay off very well in one of my larger goals of qualifying for Boston within the next few years.

Just stood around chatting. I was pretty dead. Enjoyed watching everybody finish and congratulating everyone. Love seeing people achieve their goals.


The swim. I've grown to love my space in the water, and the congestion really bothered me unlike ever before. I can't spend the entire swimming looking up for feet and looking up for landmarks and buoys. I have to trust in my ability to swim a straight line, keep my head down, and not flail my arms but swim smoothly and efficiently.

Mediocre transitions. If I want to move up even further, I have to make up time here. Can't be this much slower than the leaders.

And it would be a normal "what limited your ability to perform faster" if I didn't complain about my weight! Weighed 178 race day morning. I bet I'm giving 10-15 pounds to the competition. Still eating burgers, pizza, mexican food and ice cream entirely too much. I'm tired of saying this, and I don't need any more gimmicks. Just gotta do it, plain and simple. If I want to get faster, I need to restrain myself when it comes to eating.


Four States is great! Mike Riley is a wonderful race director and really does his best to make this a top-notch event. There is a reason this race has won best small triathlon 3 of the last 4 years, and he is it. Great venue, great volunteers, great post-race environment. If you're looking for a smaller, local sprint to do in this area, I'd definitely recommend this one.