Breath of Life Ventura Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Horrible swim. Absolutely horrible. I took off at the front of the pack. On the first dive, goggles came off...but I had them under my cap so I didn't lose them. I could also stand and put them back on as this was on my first dive in about waist deep water. Got the goggles back on quickly but they had a little water in them...oh well, no biggie. Started out very fast, probably too fast. I felt really good heading for the first buoy but that's when the chaos started. We had to merge with the Olympic swimmers and when we hit that first buoy and started to bunch up it became crazy. People everywhere of all different levels. This was at the tale end of the Olympic swim, so we were obviously going much faster than the Olympic folks. I was literally swimming over people. I would catch them so fast, before I knew it, I was on their back. I quickly moved off to the side...I didn't want to submerge anyone. Rounding the second buoy I got my arm caught in the rope! I had to come up and get it off. This cost some time. After that, I simple couldn't get my breath and rhythm. I struggled to breath and had to come up a couple times for air and pause for a second. I even tried to stand up too early because I was literally just sick of the situation. Finally made it to shore and headed up the long run through the sand to transition. Time reflects that run which was well over a minute. So my swim time was still fast. I figure about 1:13's/100 but man, it was tough going. As far as the race was concerned, it was fine. As far as coming out of the water feeling good, it was horrible. I was dying to get on the bike and relax for a second.

Man, I don't know. It was just chaos and I had to deal with a lot of things. I came out of the water with a good attitude though and just HTFU and pushed it through the sand and got to the bike. I handled all the BS as well as could be expected.

Great transition. I've really got my transitions down to a minimum. The splits didn't have transition times so I figure they just added both transitions to the bike times. I broke down my Garmin times and this is the best I can figure. So I just put 1:22 for this transition and 1:30 for the other. This is almost right as my Garmin time for the bike was 35:30

Nothing.

Got off to a great start on the bike...slipped into my shoes pretty easy and got rolling quick. My legs never got that initial shock feeling they always get till they warm up. I felt great right out of the gate. I will say though this is my first tri were the start was not up hill. The start was slightly downhill and felt really good. I caught a ton of people right off the start as I started passing Olympic riders. After the first 3-4 miles there were about 5 of us all trading spots. Some of these guys were either cheating or didn't understand the rules. No one would give an inch and they would ride on my left forever...and even right behind. I was just about to say something when I saw the sign that turned us back to the harbor. I was like, no good saying anything now...we were almost done. Kind of pissed me off though as these guys had no regard for the rules.

Nothing...cycling is coming along. Just keep working at it.

Great transition. Shoes on, visor in hand and I was off.

Nothing.

Felt weak on the run. HR was down but legs were tired. I was really going for it on the bike and it showed on how I felt on the run. BUT, it didn't show on my time. This was absolutely the fastest 5K I have ever run. Granted, I haven't done any stand alone 5K's since March, but this was really fast for me. Well under 7min miles. This is really really encouraging as I now have the ability to decide on which discipline I'm going to favor. Before, I was just pacing to finish as fast as I could. I know I could have let up slightly on the bike and run even faster.

I did feel good off the bike as far as that wobbly feeling I sometimes get. Legs felt comfortable right off the bat. Got some water right out of transition and I was off. Settled in behind a couple guys and we had a good pace. Some guy with a 37 blazed by me, and I just hoped he wasn't in the sprint. At the turn around, he was no where in sight so was obviously in the Olympic. At the turn around a guy that was chasing me said, "You pulled me to here, now you chase me home" I really tried to hang with him and finished about 15 seconds behind. My legs got really heavy towards the end. Again, my HR and breathing felt at ease, I just couldn't move my legs any faster. Given the time, I'm really happy with this run. I just think I'm on the verge of a running breakthrough when everything comes together.

Nothing. Just keep with the training and let things develop.

Came in and got a Gatorade from my girlfriend and was pleasantly surprised to see live timing. As soon as you crossed the mat, your name appeared on the screen and all I saw was my name under 35-39? Ummmm, ok? Did I win...lol. Took me a sec to figure out that I had won.


Need more training. I still think I'm in the big gain department when it comes to starting training. I think I can still make some good gains in running and cycling before the gains start to slow.


Very surprised and excited to win a race of this caliber since this was a USAT Age Group Regional Championship and Age Group National Qualifier. I know the Sprint was a little easier than the Olympic, but that's ok. My first Olympic will be in a month on almost the exact same course...I'll be ready to go for that. Gonna keep the training volume up and try to go sub 2:15...I'm pretty sure I could have gone around 2:10-2:12 for this course, but by looking at the swim results from the Olympic, I believe the swim was short. Next race might have a more accurate swim, so the goal is still sub 2:15 for that race.