Keystone Warrior Memorial Lake Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

First in my age group? Apparently somewhere over the last year I became a swimmer. Didn't feel great on this swim. Debated whether or not to use the wetsuit - worried about over-heating in this temp and if the savings over this distance would be worth it. Eventually decided that I probably am faster in the suit and have been getting it off ok in transitions. I was tired - felt like I wanted to quit for a lot of the race. Navigation was a little off. About 3 or 4 times had to correct course after I had gone a little off, but I caught it before I was too far off. Tried to draft for a while, but eventually ended up all by myself. Minor screw-up at the end when I thought I could wade earlier than I could. Most of the time I could see the lake bottom - I picked the only deep part at the boat launch to try to put down my feet. Again noticed that I don't seem to kick much when I'm in my wetsuit.

I wasn't really treating this like a real race - actually had a pretty big training volume the week leading up to it and a crappy week and a half of sleeping. Not unhappy with my swim time - honestly not sure that I could have been much faster, but could have felt better rested and enjoyed it more.

No official T-times - the T1 time was combined with the bike time. Using my Garmin, this is my best estimate. Suit, goggles and cap came off fine - probably the least problem I've had getting my suit off. I took a second to swig some accelerade as I planned on not slowing down over this bike leg to drink besides the water in my aero drink. I had a really difficult time getting into my shoes - not sure what my problem was, but my feet weren't cooperating with their usual dexterity. May partly be due to the new bike - I'm not in exactly the same position and probably need to practice more.

Practice more with mounting the new bike. I finally saw someone do the jump on and get into shoes - I may get brave and try it (been way afraid of falling in the process).

Fun course for me - I think by far the flattest tri I've done. Roads were a little wet. I took it easier on the corners and turns due to my relative unfamiliarity with my tri bike's handling. Didn't have to change out of my big ring up front once. I was comfortable in aero position for the first half, but did start to get sore in my upper back. I went out onto the brakes for a couple of the climbs and most of the turns to give myself a break. I definitely pushed the pace at the beginning - I felt some pressure to justify my expenditure last weekend on the P3! I didn't get passed as much as I'm used to - I can only remember 3 people passing me, and I passed at least 3 back - and I was able to keep most of those in sight easier. Very happy with my average - I hadn't hit 20mph yet in a race or training, so I feel like the new bike has made a difference. Weird to see my position on the bike vs. overall field to be my best leg comparatively.

Time in the saddle. Need to get used to aero position and adapt to it and the bikes handling. Also need to get used to the new position and learn how to pedal more efficiently in it. May need to get back to the bike fitter if discomfort continues.

Again, this is my best estimate on time. I went sockless since this was a shorter course - sort of expected to have a faster transition. Fumbled with my race belt a little bit - may have been part of it.

Put my belt on faster - part of my issue was that I had the number sort of backwards - need to put it on more carefully next time.

I've always considered running my strongest leg, but compared to my age group and the rest of the field it was my weakest in this race. Run definitely felt hard to me - I was feeling my training volume and the bike leg for sure. Started off at what felt like a pretty good pace, but definitely fell off some. Both hills hurt me bad - I felt like I was barely running on the second one. About half way through I got caught by someone in my age group. I think only one other person passed me, but I didn't pass anyone after the first couple hundred yards. Looking at the results, I barely hung onto 4th in my age group - the next guy back almost ran me down at the finish. Pace overall was equal to the best I've done in a sprint, and this was a harder course.

Time to focus on my running. Hanging between 20 and 21' isn't going to cut it now that my swim and bike have moved me farther up in the field.

A little stretching, some water, some Heed, some Endurox. Waited for the results to be posted and hung out for most of the awards ceremony. Skipped the massage - I felt tired, but not really sore afterwards.


Hmm - I would definitely like to blame my training load from the week leading up to it. I didn't really focus on this as a real race - more of a speed workout - due to its proximity to two Olympic distance events I am more focused on. I haven't done a lot of speed specific run work - time to get back on that and see if I can start working my 5k down into the 19's so I can remain competitive. Obviously need to get used to my bike - I was happy to have this race to work on it!


Obviously a smaller race - although it drew about 2x as many people as the event they hosted in the spring last year. I don't believe there was a pre-race meeting - I don't think I needed one, but there were lots of newbies. Rack space was tight, and there was plenty of room in the parking lot to expand transition a bit. Volunteers were good overall - one did save my life by stopping a truck who didn't want to stop for him! Only one glitch - at the final turn back to transition there was no volunteer directing people to the final turn, and it was not blatantly obvious that is where the turn was. I saw two miss it, and heard of a few more. It would be nice to have more timing mats to get more accurate T times. I would do the race again - this was its first year at this venue, and I think overall they did a good job. Only giving it a 3 mainly due to the one point that should have had someone signaling for the turn and the lack of rack space and timing mats.