YMCA "Big Pool" Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was in the third lane, and, since the lanes were populated by times, assumed the guy in the second lane would swim faster than my listed time (6:45) for the 400. I assumed that since I was pacing off of him I would be putting in something between a 6:30 and 7:00. That said, I wasn't disappointed in the 8:00. I felt very comfortable and didn't suffer any fatigue at all. It was a great warm up for the race. Bilateral breathing was perfect. It was my first time in the 2XU top, and I felt it went well. Some barely-noticeable parachute effect. Stroke rate was good. Extension and rotation were probably each about 80-90% of ideal, but, well, I was swimming at a pretty comfortable pace trying to avoid over-exerting myself. Could have been thirty seconds faster if I'd wanted to be without too much of an increase in effort, I think, but I was content to stay on the other guy's pace.

Water felt amazing. Warmer than it'd been all year.

Nothing.

T1 was definitely improved from my last outing last year. Out of the water easy, easy jog to transition, stepped onto the towel, put on sunglasses, put on shoes, put on helmet, put on gloves (some struggle, here, maybe eighteen or twenty seconds all together to put on gloves). Said "nice pace" to the guy from the lane next to me, noticed that my lane partner (the ultimate winner) was out of the pool, too (they each must've kicked hard during the last 50. I had a comfortable lead on the ultimate winner after 200 meters (maybe twenty meters), and was on the hip of the lane two guy the whole way until the last stretch.)

Maybe forego the gloves? Dunno. Overall I'm very happy with this transition.

Breathing was a little heavy at first--pushing out of the pool and rushing through transition and all that--but settled down around the time I hit the bridge. I tried to make a point of keeping my cadence high instead of grinding it out, and was mostly successful. I didn't get up off of my seat very much--not sure if this is good or bad. There was a south wind, maybe nine or ten mph, and I felt like I dealt with it pretty well. I was very pleased with my effort to stay on the hoods the whole time, and even got into the drops a little bit. I thought I might catch a few people, but only passed two. Those on the way out. Was only passed once. Kind of disappointed to be in the third wave without many easy passes. :/

Riding back in I was disappointed that the tailwind didn't seem to be helping that much--was hoping to be in the 22-24 range, but was only in the 19.5-21.5 range. People in front of me increased their leads on me. I contemplated my lack of bicycle fitness.

One shocker--I climbed a hill and thought, "How the heck did I forget about that monster--and where is the darn tree?--only to realize that it WAS the tree hill and that the tree had been cut down.

Was successful in taking two GUs during the ride, and was happy with the concentration (1.25 scoops) of my HEED, but my absorption wasn't that great. During the run viscous, syrupy, slimy GU/HEED solution came up a bit when I burped.

Train more.

This was a pretty good transition. Racked, helmet off, gloves torn off, feet wiped on towel, shoes on, shoes tied, shoes double-knotted, a sip of water from the bottle I'd left in transition, and I was running out.

Maybe get pull-laces?

The run was brutal. Ugh. Brutal. I was not in shape for this. Breathing was pretty labored 250 meters in. I backed off to walk 20 seconds. Such was the run. 60 seconds of running, 10 seconds of walking. 90 seconds running, 20 seconds walking. 60 seconds running, 30 seconds walking. And so on. Ugly. passed three people in the first 3/4 mile, but no one after that. It was lonely. My mentality was poor.

Train more.

Walked around. Drank a bottle of water. Stepped into the pool and swam an easy 100 (felt soooooo good). Rode my bicycle home.


Bicycle fitness was really sub-par (only 375 miles this year). Run fitness was sub-par (55 miles this year) and was compounded by a bike ride that was probably, on average, .5 to 1 mph faster than I should have ridden if I'd wanted to hold onto my run. Sleep in the last few nights has been terrible (five hours two nights ago, three hours yesterday afternoon, two hours last night). Took one off-day before the race, but probably should've taken two. Mentality was really poor during parts of the bike and virtually all of the run.


This is well-run for a small-town tri. About thirty or thirty-five participants. Men and women, with a children race at the end. The folks from the local 'Y' are friendly, helpful, enthusiastic. Timing is well taken care of--no chips, but they do have timers at both ends of transition so splits are accurate. Transition area is nicely set up. Parts of the bike are assisted by police/ highway patrol who stop traffic. Turn-around is well marked and water is available. Run course is a nice, if completely flat, run through a nice zoo. One spot on the run might have been better marked, but overall the course was nicely delineated. Not tons and tons of volunteers, but a nice number of spectators.