Bartow Blarney Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

O.K. swim, but I don't do flip turns and I hadn't practiced turning to my right. Was a little awkward and I definitely felt like it slowed me down a bit. However, I caught up to the 2 people that were seeded ahead of me by the last 50 meters. I passed one and got out of the pool the same time as the 1st swimmer. I couldn't get a a deep breathe, probably because of the coldness and maybe a little from the wetsuit. I swam in the wetsuit for the 1st time 2 days ago, so not used to the snug fit.

Get used to swimming with the wetsuit a little more.

Bad T1 for me. Again, without a whole lot of experience with the wetsuit, I had trouble getting out of it. I dropped the straps on my run to T1, but couldn't seem to step out of it. Had to pull it off with my hands. This probably took about 20 seconds or so more than it should have. Sunglasses on, helmet on and off to biek mount. Crosses timing mat only not to hear a "beep". Volunteer asked "Where's your chip?" Crap! It came off with the wetsuit. Had to double back and put it back on my ankle and then I was off. I probably left :45 or so in T1 with the wetsuit issue and the timing chip issue.

Practice more getting out of wetsuit. Check to make sure timing chip doesn't come off before taking off the the mount line.

A little wind, some hills, wet roads and lots of turns equals a sub-par bike portion for me. I was tentative going into the many turns the course had due to the wet roads. Had 2 cars get in my way which also slowed me down. Also, maybe a carry over from the swim, but I couldn't seem to catch my breath or take a deep breath at all. Again, I think the chill in the air mixed with the cold swim mixed with a little asthma flare up caused this.
The one great thing about the bike, and swim and run for that matter, was the crowd support. Lots of people on the side of the road cheering us on. It was great!

Maybe a little more aggresive on the turns, but who knows that could have led to road rash. I should have taken my preventative inhaler before this race, but just like warming up and stretching, I forgot to.

Good T2. Much better than T1.

Nothing.

Again, a lot of the residents outside cheering everybody on. Very cool of them. This run is only :18 short of my 5K PR. Took until about mile 2 or so to have my legs start to feel normal. Doesn't usually take this long. Not sure why it did today. Again, couldn't take a deep breath, which hindered my performance a little, but overall I'm happy with the run.

Inhaler

Walked around for a bit. Wait for Joy to finish, She got 1st overall female! Her 2nd in a row. These small local races are good for confidence. My son and wife's parents got there right after I finished so I waited around with them for Joy, so they got to see her finish. Very cool.


Inhaler, lack of warm up and stretch, wet roads, cars in the way. The 1st 3 were my fault. Nothing I could do about the cars.


Didn't like the fact that they cut the swim short. The bike course has too many turns. I think they could switch up the route a little bit to get rid of some of the turns. They really needed to do a better job of keeping cars out of the way. Not sure how. I think they could close down small portions of some roads and eliminate 90% of the vehicle issues. There's enough small back roads to detour people through for an hour or 2 on a Saturday morning in my opinion. This is the 1st year for this race, so maybe they will make some changes for next year.

Post race food was the best I have seen. They had tables set up in the auditorium for racers and spectators to eat and watch the awards. Very nice set up.