Mountain Man Sprint Tri - TriathlonSprint

The swim was an absolute disaster. My plan was to hang back and to the left (the outside) to give myself some room. I waited about 10 seconds after the gun and started swimming. The first few hundred meters went OK, until a guy in front of me spontaneously started breast stroking and kicked my goggles loose. I wasn't able to get them to seal again over my left eye (think maybe swim cap was getting in the way) full on panic set in and I eventually doggy paddled to the nearest kayak all the while nearly hyperventilating , fixed my goggles and got my breathing somewhat under control. Started swimming again, goggles came loose again, struggled to the first buoy and grabbed on to a handle and hung out for a bit and fixed goggles yet again. After this I was actually able to settle down a bit. The swim went fine until a little after I rounded the second buoy and started heading back toward the shore, I started to notice faster swimmers from the next wave coming in. About 50yds from the dock someone swam over me and knocked my goggles loose again. I swam/struggled my way the rest of the way before finally dragging myself out of the water hyperventilating and tired.

This was my first time swimming in OW other than snorkeling in the ocean, I wanted to practice before hand but couldn't work it out. I needed practice with this. I also need to build my comfort level dealing with issues that may arise in the water. I'll talk with my swim coach about it, but I suspect becoming comfortable with a rescue stroke or two and getting better at treading water would both help. Overall I just need more experience and build my comfort level in the OW.

Considering I came out of the water a complete mess, I'm proud of the way I handled T1. I'm glad I practiced beforehand and visualized how my transition would go because I was in a complete daze but still managed to do everything I had planned in the correct order. I was barely able to manage to put one foot in front of the other out of the water, but after I crossed the mat I forced myself to bust a trot. I got out of the wetsuit and into my helmet and sunglasses. This went quickly and I remember looking around thinking I must have forgotten something. I jogged out with my bike to the mount line, which was congested with FOPers from the wave behind me and the BOPers from my wave. I jumped on my bike and promptly swerved left into the rear wheel of someone trying to clip in. This dislodged my rubber bands and it took me a second to get my shoes back upright. Right after the mount line there was an uphill, and a sharp right turn down the road which was blocked off except for two tiny openings to ride through. As I was coming up a FOPer from the later wave was yelling at a guy on a mountain bike to get out of the way because he decided to stop at the opening for some reason. It took me longer than I thought to get my shoes on and start things out.

Run a bit farther out after the mount line to give myself more room to jump on the bike if things are congested.

Awesome bike ride! The course seemed a bit short, but I easily crushed my prior 20K TT time. I should bring a kiddie pool and try to drown myself before my next bike race. I felt great the whole ride and feel like I left enough for the run. I was 5 solid minutes under my planned time, and 3 minutes under my super secret goal time!

Bike mount on way out of T1 and getting shoes on was a bit sloppy. Otherwise a really strong bike leg.

Dismount could have been a bit faster, but I'm not concerned with it. Had a bit of trouble getting Garmin strap on my wrist, I had considered wearing it from the start, but I was worried it would snag on the wetsuit, need to think about this before my next event.

Strap for Garmin needed some work, otherwise OK for my first effort. The top people seem to be able to do this in less than a minute so I guess I've got about 45 seconds to find somewhere. Also had some trouble switching Garmin from bike to run and accidentally paused the GPS for 10 seconds or so, need to practice this as well.

The altitude didn't lay the smackdown until the run, where I felt like my lungs were working much harder than my legs. I stuck perfectly to my pre-race plan which was to run the first mile at about an 8:00 pace to give my legs a chance to come around and to get a feel for how the altitude would affect my pace, after that I would just do what I could to the finish. With about 100y left a guy I had just passed tried to kick past me which was the exact motivation I needed to summon the will to sprint out to the finish.

Overall run went well and I nailed my plan which is a good feeling. Tongue on left shoe was pretty bunched up after the run was over, need to be aware of this in T2 next time.

Drank water, ate oranges and watermelon. Also ate a 6" subway sandwich while I waited for my friend to finish. Afterward we packed up our stuff and went for a short cooldown jog.


Swim definitely did not go well, and I'm sure sapped energy I could have used for the bike and run. I am very happy with the way I mentally and physically rebounded after the adversity on the swim.


Well organized race, beautiful scenery and I am in love with the bike course. 7000 Feet of elevation and steadily rising temperatures made the run feel like a bit of a death march!