Race of Grace Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Good swim in warm water. Tinted goggles would've helped a bit as the glare off the water was pretty bad. Didn't get passed but wasn't exactly speeding past people either. The ground at the exit was a bit slippery but didn't slow us down really. First time to wear the jersey while swimming and I didn't mind it too much. Wore my watch, too.

Tinted goggles maybe. Had some but decided not to wear them since they're my wife's and I've never used them before.

Wearing the jersey saved time. I figure if in a sprint you should probably wear what you swim in for the rest of the race. Would've been too difficult to put on the jersey after the swim. This was also the first time to wear bike shoes but the socks once again were a little tough to get on.

Sockless? Don't think I could do that. But this transition was much better than the last race.

There were some really slow spots on this course. It's pretty demoralizing cresting a hill at 10mph! On the flip side there are also some really fast spots. A fair amount of shade made for an ok ride. Had a Power gel just after the turnaround, felt like a good time to get that in. Some poor bug flew into my jersey and starting biting/stinging me. A nano-second later he was squashed and dumped out the bottom of my jersey. Also, ran over a piece of trash in the first mile and it stuck to my spokes for the next 5 miles or so making this awful sound. Sounded like the bike was rattling apart.

Get some more time on the bike. With just a little better avg. mph my time would've been even better. Oh and not run over trash.

I'm not very skilled at the transitions, probably b/c I haven't really practiced them much. Thought this was average.

Practice dismounting.

I carried a sponge pretty much the entire run and re-soaked it at each aid station. That was a great way to keep cool and if nothing more helped me mentally. I passed someone in my age group about 1/3 of the way through and we ran together for the rest of the run. He was on my heels and gave a huge push at the end. We both sprinted, and I mean sprinted. We slowed a little before the finish line but had he given another push I don't think I would've been able to keep up. Thanks to that guy for the great push and a dramatic finish! I will credit the sprints from my rugby career for being able to finish that strong.

Not sure, I was really happy with that time even if it wasn't part of a triathlon.

Walked around and drank a lot of water and gatorade. Didn't really cool down or stretch or whatever. Just refueled.


Experience. Especially on the bike. But as the saying goes, "Bike for show run for go." Regardless, I am really happy with this time since my goal was to finish in under 1:30:00. I had a blast and was thrilled to get hardware for 3rd in my age group since the top 2 placed overall. That was just icing on the cake. 3rd! I can't believe it!


Great race, will have to do this one again next year.