Iron Creek Off-Road Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This was my first OWS in competition and my second OWS to date. The chop was low, so navigation was easy. I managed to vanquish my turning problem for the most part and managed to swim a straight race. I always came up right next to the bouy for my turn. The start was a little rough, but i threw just as many hits as I recieved, so it was all good.

Unfortuneately, I was one of 3 people not wearing a wet suit for this race. With air temps in the 100's, water temps up close to the limit (which they didn't test prior to start) and the fact I don't own one yet, I decided to forgo it. I'm not the fastest swimmer in the world, but I think this really hurt me. Especially considering I came in ahead of all the people not wearing wet suits and one or two that were.

wear a wet suit

Coming into transition, I turn and look and to me it appears I am almost DFL off the swim. There were actually 4 people left out there, but still... I rip off the cap and goggles on the way into transition, grab my camelbak and my helmet, throw my shoes and gloves on, grab the bike and go. I did make one fatal judgment error... I decided that I could go sockless for the ride. Now I've commuted TONS of times in these very shoes without socks and never had anything resembling a problem. Well today, they decide to wear all the skin off the top of my toes.

Put socks on

I will just state now for the record: I am not a mountain biker.

I started off on the first hill hurting. My heart rate skyrocketed in transition and I hit the first death hill before it had a chance to calm down. I was refusing to walk the hill when I looked up and saw 4 other people walking. So I hopped off and started jogging with the bike. Passed 2 people before getting back on.

I should take the time now to elaborate on my previous statement. I am a strong climber. I am a horrible descender. I have zero mountain bike handling skills.

Coming off the single track and hitting the road, my HR had finally calmed down and I kicked it into high gear. Took off down the road and hit the second climb hard. Here's where I started making up ground. On the first hill I passed about 3 people before turning off back onto the trail. The trail continued to climb and then went into a series of shorter climbs and downhill sections. The order of the course was I would pass a bunch of people going up, then one or two would pass me on the way down.

Halfway through the ride I came up on a lady who was doing a good job climbing. I knew if I passed her, she'd just catch me on the downhill, so instead of playing leap frog, I decided just to pace off of her. Technically it's an USAT race, so I would have been "drafting," but it was single track and 7 mph.... It actually turned out to be a good deal in the long run.

After talking to her for a while as we climbed, we finally hit a long downhill section and she took off. About 5 min later I hit a gully where there was a stream crossing and I see her walking just past it. I stop, walk the crossing and we both take off. A few minutes later, she dabs on a very easy rocky hill crest and goes down. I stop and ak if she's okay and all she keeps saying is "I just have to sit down" "I just have to sit down." I was thinking, great... So she sits down and I wait there with her just to make sure I didn't need to ride up and grab an EMT. Turns out she went down on those rocks and landed on her shoulder, possibly seperating it. So she rested for a few minutes, ate a gel, then got back on her bike. She told me to go on ahead as we were less then 1/2 mile from T2, so I made sure she was on her bike okay and took off.

Pick a race with a road course.

Got into T2 and my feet felt like hamburger. Pulled teh shoes off, threw on the socks, then the shoes, remembered to ditch the helmet and took off. I hit the gate of transition and the guys asks me where my number is. Shit. Run back to my bike (at the other end of the corral), grab my race belt and take off. By the time I made the 2 laps in transition, the gal I had been riding with had come in, so we ended up leaving transition together.

make my race belt more obvious somehow....although I don't know how much more obvious you can get then putting it IN your shoe.

The run course was KILLER. The heat plus the two hills were brutal. I half walked half ran the first hill, as was everyone else. I was surprised how fresh I was off the bike though. I was much fresher then my last race. At the top of the hill I took off running at my normal pace. I'd have to estimate it was low to mid 8's. The rest of the course was an easy run, until I hit the damn dam. It was like running up a brick wall....except with less traction. I had to walk it, because I couldn't get traction on it trying to run.

The second loop ran exactly like the first. I was happy that as I ran I was able to reel in a few more people.

nothing

Grabbed some food and sat down on the grass, watching others come in.


1. No wet suit
2. Crappy mountainbike skills
3. heat

I know the heat played a major role, but it affected everyone the same, so I can't use it as a crux. I did notice that on the run I was having trouble stomaching the amount of fluids I know I needed to keep down. On a longer course, this could have been really bad, but didn't cause me much harm.


The race is a really pretty venue. It's in/around a really nice lake. The organization was really good too. It would have been nice to have it chip timed, but in the end, it really didn't matter much. After the race they had a pretty good meal set out for the racers and the hardware they gave out were jars of some of the best honey I've ever had.

There were plenty of water stops on the run and the ride, even though a lot of the places were fairly remote to get to.

Overall a really good race.