Batavia Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I didn't do as bad as last year, but that wasn't saying much. I spent a lot of time this year training for the swim, but that all went out the window in a hurry. For some reason I just couldn't get myself to breath consistently putting my face in the water. So this time I gave up the ghost and went to back stroke. It wasn't pretty, but I finished a minute better than last year. Being able to walk the back half made this strategy work. Although if I hadn't had that option I might have figured out how to swim like a big boy.

I need more(any) open water practice. My two attempts at open water swimming have been this race this year and last. Totally inadequate. I am going to have to get up to Rockford or to Chicago and make this happen.

Because I gave up any pretense of a good swim, I came into T1 in decent shape this year. I dried my feet, put on socks and shoes, buckled helmet and I was off.

Pretty clean transition. I did take an extra few seconds to throw some encouragement to a friend who was doing his first race. I wouldn't change this, but I am sure it won't be necessary next race.

I had a good ride this year. I brought the pace up from 15.7 average to 18.3. I think I still have a good bit of room for improvement, I need to do more speed work going into my next race. I put in good effort, and shaved over 8 minutes from last year in return.

More training. I focused a good bit of effort on bike training this year and saw good results. I focused more on base endurance rather than speed, and that is reflected in the results. I also forgot to take my second water bottle out of its rack before the race, so I hauled around a little extra weight.

Solid transition. Felt like I spent most of the above time getting to stall then getting to run out.

Nothing.

I had a solid run. 10 minute miles is what I currently run on a good day, and I held that pace for the final leg of this race. I am happy with that. I really want to improve, but that just takes more speed work. I don't have a run split from last year because of a chip problem, but I am sure that I smashed my time. And that is what I was looking for out of this race.

I need more speed work.

Beer. Fruit. Massage. Screaming raucously for my friends and random strangers as they were coming in.


I need to drop more weight for one. I very much need open water experience. Other than that, I just need to keep training. I made solid improvements, but just have more ground to cover


The quarry isn't the best swim venue, but other than that, this is a great race. The bike and run courses are great. The staff is extremely helpful. They know how to herd cats like champions. The volunteers really make this race.