New Jersey Devilman Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I chose this race because I wanted to do a longer swim...now I'm thinking I should just stick with the mini-sprints of 400-500m. Compared to previous years I've actually been swimming very well in the pool, but it didn't translate at all today, although I ended up, pack-wise, about where I expected. I didn't panic, and I never really got completely out of control on the swim - my HR averaged 147, higher than it should be but not that bad - but the swim event continues to be a mental thing with me impacting my performance. Stuck my face in the water while waiting for the start and I came up gasping from the cold. During the swim I would roll to breathe and I'd be gasping...it was mentally challenging to make sure I was exhaling in the water. What's disappointing is I had high hopes for the swim...I expected no more than around 21 minutes. I didn't realize how long the run to transition would be and I should've expected some adverse factors because I always seem to experience them, but I also thought the wetsuit would offset some of those. I guess a more reasonable estimate would've been 24 minutes or so, which is why final result is so disappointing...and also leads me to believe the swim leg was longer than advertised, maybe 700-750 meters, but we'll never know.

Need to figure out a way to deal with the mental aspect. It's not panic or fear, really, just a lot of discomfort that results in my losing focus on form and breathing.

Transition was set up in left field of a baseball field. Once over transition mat near the first base dugout, it was probably another 100 yards to the actual racks themselves. Wetsuit took a little bit of time and I went ahead and put bike shoes all the way on since I'd not practiced getting feet into shoes on the bike...actually I have, but it hasn't gone very well.

I'm going to continue to practice transitions just so I can be smooth and economical in my movements. I doubt putting on the shoes cost me a lot of time, but I'm going to practice that too.

My Garmin measured 21.03 for the bike; maybe the official distance only measures the road distance and doesn't include the 175-200 yards or so from transition out to the mount line. Obviously disappointed with bike result. I really wanted to pace myself on the bike because it was longer than what I've done previously and followed by a longer run, so I wasn't expecting anything great here, but I expected better than this. Some serious winds out there, though; bad crosswinds and very tough headwinds on the way back, particularly right towards the end. Had some good miles right around the middle but everything slowed down after that. Longer I went more uncomfortable I got and the gusting winds toward the end had me to the point I couldn't wait to got off the damn bike. Was having some gastro discomfort too; all in all did not feel that great in getting off the bike. I got passed by only a couple, and then two of the bike leaders from the longer race passed me as we were coming into Cedarville.

Not sure. There were winds out there none of us had any control over and that impacted me, no doubt. Cadence was decent overall. I wanted to negative split and ended up going the wrong way, so it's possible I didn't pace myself right from the start.

Since I'd not run without socks yet I didn't want to risk that, so rolled them on in T2...went quick enough. Was not feeling good enough to try and pull my feet out of the bike shoes before dismount, although I did loosen the straps.

Will work on going sockless on brick runs from here forward. Also plan to start practicing getting feet in and out of shoes so I can do that too.

Run was an unmitigated disaster. I do training runs at paces faster than this. Negative split? Total failure in that regard. HR never seemed that bad but I was uncomfortable all around from even before the first mile was over, as if I was going to puke. That got me walking early, and by the time the mile 2 turnaround was in sight I was walking a lot. And there were a good number of walkers too. I talked a little with a woman just past the three mile mark, we were both walking...she said her pace was much slower than she normally does. I wanted to try and pace off of her to the finish but she caught a second wind and I was never able to. Hell, I had to walk for 30 seconds or so at 3.8 miles! Just a disaster of a run and a bit embarrassing because, slow as I am, I am not this slow. The fact that it took me almost 28 minutes to cover the last half of this run is pretty indicative of how bad I felt.

Don't know, really. From the moment I left transition I didn't feel very good and that just piled on. Don't know if it was pushing the bike harder than I should've, not having enough liquid or other fuel (drank OK on bike, I thought, and I had a full Gu flask mixed with water in the last mile or so of the bike), or I just wasn't at my best. Discouraging run when I had high hopes of gaining time on the run.

They handed out cold wet towels at the finish which was great, I needed it. Felt like absolute crap. Had some water, felt like I was going to throw it up, so I didn't eat anything at all. Sat on some bleachers with TSW until I started to feel better. As bad as it went compared to what I'd hoped for, I can't blame it on a lack of physical effort because I had nothing left when I finished...I had barely anything left at about mile two of the run. On the way home I was thinking if I felt this bad after a longer sprint like this, I can't even imagine how bad it would be after an Olympic distance race or, God forbid, a half iron race.

Strangely, as poor as the race went, I ended up about where I expected overall...right at the front of the back of the pack, ahead of just under a quarter of total participants. One potential lesson learned: I may just be a short sprint distance guy. Would love to look back one day knowing I'd done an Oly or half iron, but at this point I just don't seem to have those capabilities.


Lack of relaxation and focus on swim. Better pacing on the bike and maybe riding in easier gears longer. Don't know about the run; I know I have the conditioning based on the two races I've run this year and based upon my bricks, but I wasn't able to bring that out today. I'm not even sure if more training would make a difference...early on the run my body was just saying, "Enough".


As always, Piranha was very organized...they have this down to a science. They did go off a little late but not by too many minutes. The only reason I rate it a 4 is because it seems like there is just too much distance from swim exit to T1 and from there to bike mount line. I can see maybe doing this one again just because of the challenge, but I was sorry to have missed the Broad Street Run this year, and I skipped that because I didn't want to be beat up for this. And then my performance ends up this way, as if I was beat up anyway!