Pigman Triathlon - Sprint - TriathlonSprint

This was a time trial start, and given the number of people at the race, I kind of figured I was going to be a little later than scheduled to go out. I watched those speedy pros blow through the swim and chatted with (some of the very few) guys I knew from the 'loo/cf area. I lost track of time and didn't realize my wave was lining up in the starting chute until just about all of the green caps were already there. Oops. Got the rest of the suit on real quick and hopped in the water for a quick warmup, then got in line second from last. The line moved pretty quick and before I knew it I was off. I kind of like these TT starts, it definitely keeps the carnage down at the start. I was feeling great and blowing by people left and right the first could hundred yards out to the turnaround. Took one breast stroke kick square in the side, thanks for that! Hit the turnaround and continued a great (for me) swim back to shore. Having contacts now has really helped me navigate better, I don't think I drifted more than 20-30 ft. off the buoy line the whole way.

Nothing really, maybe warm up a little earlier/more. Time included a LONG run up to the timing mat near transition, so my pace was really pretty good.

This transition area is pretty long, so it was a long run to my rack, other than that, nothing to see here. Could be faster, but not too bad.

Get the suit off faster...

So I saw the wind pick up waiting around for the swim start, and I tried to figure out if it would suck or not, all the while thinking no repeat of Bluff Creek 2 weeks ago please. It turned out to be a fairly strong crosswind. Now my race wheel setup is not exactly fun in crosswinds, but it wasn't too bad. The traffic was another story though. Heading out from the park, there were people going both ways on the bike, people running both ways, and cars entering and exiting. Pretty much a total clusterf*ck. Some better traffic control would make this much more fun. I was pretty much yelling "on your left" the first 4 or 5 miles of the bike while trying not to hit anyone or get run over. Luckily I didn't get stuck behind any cars. The course itself was actually pretty fun, just the right mix of flat and fast with some decent hills mixed in. The ambulance in Palo looked like kind of a scary situation, hope everything turned out ok there. I pretty much hammered it the whole way, but I overcooked my legs a little heading up the big hill back into the park, so I was a little slow after that. Executed the flying dismount a few feet back of the dismount line to avoid traffic.

Become an elite to avoid all the traffic ;)...yeah probably not going to happen, maybe not hammer that last hill so hard.

This was as fast as I could do it in this transition area. Everything went flawlessly.

Nothing

Got off the bike still feeling pretty good, and I thought, maybe today will be the day I break 20 in a tri 5k. First half mile was downhill and flying at 5:40 pace, when things leveled off I pulled back to about 6:30 pace. The traffice now I think was actually worse than on the bike, I had to slow up several times to avoid getting hit, ran around a few cars too. Hit the turn around, hammered it back to the last half mile and the biggest hill. Ground up that one and I knew I was fairly close to 20 min, so I hammered the last quarter mile or so hoping to get in under that. Almost but not quite...someday.

Go just a little harder.

Walked around, had one of those 64 calorie "beers" that are more colored water than beer, ate some pizza, packed up transition, met BTer disturbed275 after awards waiting to once again not win a door prize.


Genetics, laziness, bad diet, lack of sleep...


This is really a well run and first class event. I just wish they would/could do something about the traffic situation, it's pretty dangerous and I could see someone being seriously injured in the wrong situation...