Pittsford Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was #28. With someone starting every 15 seconds, I was about 7 minutes after the start.

I decided to wear my full tri outfit, both shirt and shorts in the pool. My new tri shirt doesnt seem to add drag like my old one did, so I felt comfortable wearing it in the pool.

The first 50 was good, perhaps a touch hard. Second 50 was fine. I caught up to the guy in front of me in lap 3 or 4. I tapped his foot near the end of the length and he let me pass at the end of that length. I was working pretty hard, but I expected this as I wasnt fully warmed up for the swim.

As I got out of the pool, my watch said 4:10. Exactly my seed time. I had hoped to do 4:00, but without a full warmup, that was good enough.

I left my bike helmet and glasses in the hallway. So as I ran out of the pool and gym, I grabbed them on the way by. I put them on as I ran across the parking lot. It was raining hard.

Down the steps carefully, cross the timing mat.

Official time was 5:09, almost a full minute after my pool time. In the past, my run times have been about 45 seconds. I guess the helmet/glasses and heavy rain slowed me down some.

My water time was about 25 seconds faster than last year.

Nothing. I swam hard, but in control.

T1 was excellent. I already had on my helmet and glasses coming in. All I had to do was pick up my bike and go.

Turns out, I had the fastest T1 time of any single racer in the whole race.

Worked perfectly

I only occasionally ride in the rain. When I do, its good practice for a day like today. There were times of very heavy rain, times of light rain, times of heavy gusting winds, and times of little wind. I most definitely was cautious around turns. While I wanted to go fast, I wasnt going to put undue risk of sliding out and crashing. I heard of someone who did have their bike slide out from under them on a corner and they ended up in an ambulance. Hope they are ok.

Anyway, I had my shoes on the bike, so I started with my feet on top of my shoes. I pedaled out to 64 where there is a steady downhill. I coasted down the hill while getting my feet in my shoes. I found them to have small puddles of water in them. My feet sloshed the whole ride.

It was dark and raining for the first 5+ miles. A lot of tree cover as well. My glasses were covered in water and I actually had trouble seeing the road well. Forunately I ride that route frequently enough that I know the general road conditions. I just tried to avoid the shiny areas, as that was where water was standing. Riding on the darker, flatter colored pavement seemed to serve me well.

I more or less tried to ignore the rain on the long stretch of East Bloomfield Road. It seemed to clear a bit near the end of this stretch. But looking west, where we were headed next, was an ominous looking dark cloud. About this time, there were some very strong crossing wind gusts from the east-south-east that moved my bike. A really weird wind direction. The last thing I needed was to get knocked sideways into standing water or onto the slick white line. So I came out of aero for a bit here to help keep the bike stabilized.

I was glad to turn onto 251 as the wind was then behind us. However, the route was towards the ominous sky. And soon enough, the rain really picked up hard again. I could even feel the rain hitting me on the head through the holes in my helmet.

Throughout this first part of the ride, I passed about 10 riders. One guy went by me. As we went up the last hill before the steep descent to 65, I went by a guy. He smartly dropped back a touch before turning onto 65. This was a dangerous turn because of the steep downhill then turn onto a busy road. With the wetness, I had to brake as hard as I could to get the bike to slow on the hill. Fortunately, we both made it safely around this turn.

I treated 65 much like East Bloomfield. I tried to ignore the rain and just go. My legs didnt have their full pop. I was a bit discouraged. I was frustrated. I know my legs can be more explosive than what they were giving me. I told myself just put up a good effort and give it what you've got and see what happens.

I actually could not read my spedometer. There was so much water on my glasses and the read out that I could not see it. So I really didnt know how fast I was going at any point on the ride.

I cruised along 65. I generally stayed in aero. The heavy rain let up some and the gusting wind with it.

An okay turn onto Willard. The wind was now coming from the north. Gave a strong effort here. Work our way over to Barker. Made good speed here. Climb back to Thornell. This turn onto Thornell and the one back onto 64 were also downhill. I was very cautious around these turns. And the guy who crashed was on the turn back onto 64.

I was very pleased to see course marshals at these intersections. Last year, I got stopped at the stop light here. I was expecting the marshal to stop traffic for the race, but she didnt. I almost crashed when I stopped abruptly upon realizing that last year. But this year, they stopped traffic for us, so that was nice.

I cruised back up 64 to the turn in to transition.

In looking at the power data, I averaged 227 watts overall, 250 watts when pedalling. 20 minute max was only 237. These are relatively weak power numbers for me for this distance race.

I had hoped on doing 44:00 on the bike. So I'm a bit dissappointed to only do 44:59. Yes, I held back because of the conditions. But I was hoping for more. My legs are capable of more, but they didnt have their full energy today for the bike. I did beat my time from a year ago. But Better could have been had.

I was cautious around the turns and with the occasionally gusting wind. How much time this cost me, I don't know. I didnt have quite the pop in my legs that I was hoping for here. But I gave a good effort of what I did have.

I made a very good choice for nutrition. I only brought my half full aerobottle with water. In the past, I brought gatorade as well. No need on a short course like this. I drank maybe a cupful on this ride. Twas plenty for the day.

T2 was not very good. Got to my spot quickly. Helmet and glasses off fine. But I had trouble getting my bike shoes off. My hands were slick and my feet were sticking from the wetness. I eventually sat down. Got the shoes off and put the vibrams on. They didnt go on exactly smoothly either, given the puddle that had formed inside them.

But they got on. I got up, grabbed my hat and headed for the exit. ARGH!!!!!!! I forgot my race belt!!!!!!!!! Stop. Turn around. Go back. Get race belt. Run. Blah! 10-20 seconds wasted on this move.

Not forget to put on race belt. The other stuff was kind of outside my control.

I felt good on this run. Perhaps the best I've ever felt in a tri run. Where I didnt have pop in my legs for the bike, I felt strong here. This is my first tri run in my Vibrams and also first time coming off my tri bike. Some combination of those 2 really made a difference.

I ran hard the whole way. Felt pretty good overall. Not a lot to comment on. My feet felt quick. Light. I moved as well as I could.

I do feel like I need to run more tempo. I could tell there are some form issues that were keeping my speed lower. I just do almost all my running at easy paces.

The rain did hold off on the run. So that was helpful to the bikers at that time. One thing about the Vibrams as that they are excellent for wet conditions. They were designed as water shoes. So they were right at home in this setting.

I pushed hard to the end and crossed the line as quickly as I could.

Total run time was 25:45. I was hoping for 26:00, so I'm very pleased to beat that here. I beat last year's run time by about 2 minutes. So some very good progress there.

Nothing.

I settled down quickly. Found some drinks then went to cheer on folks. I cheered in Jackie as she was finishing. She started about 5 minutes after me. I knew i hadn't been waiting quite that long when she crossed. At least she didnt catch me on the run like she said she was going to do!


I had a good race. My swim and run were as expected. Given the conditions, I don't know what more I could have realistically done on the bike. I was cautious here.

While I did not hit my 1:16 goal, I did beat last year's time by about 2:15. I beat my times in every discipline compared to last year. The run was actually a PR pace for the 5Kish distance.

Given the conditions, I'm very satisfied by these results. Also, finishing 16th overall and 6th in my age group is my best placing ever. Without my race belt mixup in T2, I would have been 15th overall and 5th in my age group. But regardless, it was a very good race in tough conditions.


This is a nice, local race. Lots of volunteers. Blessedly, they had course marshals that stopped traffic this year. That is a huge improvement over past races.