Turkey Tri - TriathlonSprint

Water was cold, but I could tell it was indeed a couple degrees warmer than last year. Probably went out too fast for the conditions...had more trouble than usual regulating my breathing and was a bit tired on the inbound leg. Passed a lot of people from the two waves ahead of me and was catching the back of the wave before that as I approached the exit.

100% sure the course was very long...there was a little more chop than last year, but my time was WAY off last time and overall, times were very slow for a half mile course. Garmin had it as about 200 yards long (which would make sense given the comparison with my typical time for this distance...and last year's time), but that may not be a trustworthy measurement.

(Update: Went back and took a closer look at Garmin output. Total distance--start to timing mat at swim exit--appears to be 0.68 miles, with 0.07 miles run on the beach. That works out to an actual swim of 0.61 mile or ~1070 yards...meaning the course was way long and pretty much in line with my typical pace for this distance. Plotting the course from the Garmin onto gmap-pedometer.com yields 0.57 miles or ~1005 yards, so somewhere between 1005 and 1075 yards for the actual swim.)

Hold back a bit at the beginning. Not get in the water so soon for "warmup" swim...I was pretty chilled by the time my wave actually started.

Meh. The run from the swim exit to my rack was HUGE...and uphill and on rough pavement. So I stashed my sandals just after the timing mat. Took me probably close to 30 sec. to get them on, but I was then able to run past at least two guys I was racked with...so probably a wash, timewise.

Then the left cuff of my wetsuit got hung up on the velcro strap of the crappy old chipstrap I'd been issued with my chip. That sucked. Spent a few moments putting on the sleeveless jersey--that sucked much less. Then I struggled like I haven't in ages getting my cycling socks on...no idea why. End result was my worst T2 in awhile. Still ended up with the 9th fastest T2 of 19 in my AG, though.

Use one of my chipstraps...the closure on the one I was given at check-in was both long and worn and so it managed to hook itself to the lining of my wetsuit.

Was hoping to crack 19 mph this year, but--according to both bike computer and Garmin 310XT--I just missed (at 18.8...based on course actual distance of 14.5 miles). Felt like I had a good ride--passed a ton of people and wasn't passed by all that many (largely a function of being in the next-to-last wave, of course). What is usually the fastest flat section of the course had been recently paved and the surface was loose--first time through, a bike aheaed of me kicked up a piece of gravel into my sunglasses! I didn't trust the traction there and I'm sure that cost me a bit...took that section less conservatively on lap two.

I probably could have pushed a little more overall...was a little careful of the patches of damp pavement here and there from the rains that had gone through not too long before, in addition to the loose surface on the newly paved section...second lap was faster.

This was a few seconds longer than I wanted, but overall pretty good. Only specific issue was getting to my rack and finding the guy next to me had racked way into my spot...had to shove his bike over to rack mine (and move my wetsuit out of the way). Ended up 5th out of 19 in AG for T1, which is fine.

Can't control inconsiderate competitors, unfortunately.

Boy, I felt like my legs were lead this time out. Even though not a single person passed me (and I passed a lot of people, including at least two guys from my AG that I noticed), I would have bet money that I was slower than last year. Nope...took about a minute off my run split.

Knee injury didn't really present itself until about mile 12 of the bike...it was stiff throughout the run, but didn't slow me down (if anything, it felt better when I was running faster).

Felt like my heart was working too hard, which is something I experience sometimes after I get a phlebotomy for my hemochromatosis...which I did back on Monday. I've never noticed that in a race, but I guess I've never had one this close to race day before.

Nothing really...went out at the pace I was aiming for, but dropped off a bit over miles 3 & 4. Not sure what I might have gained (or lost) with a more conservative start.

Walked around. Ate pumpkin pie. Waited for Liz (who didn't have a good day on the course). I came into this hoping to get under 1:39 and possibly pick up 3rd in AG...ended up with a 1:42 and 4th (3rd was 1:37, so that would have been a long shot). They went 5 deep with the AG awards, though, so I got a nice commemorative beer glass for my efforts.


Lingering post-marathon knee tendonitis (or maybe bursitis...or both) didn't help...I've gotten in plenty of volume recently, but no hills on the bike or the run. Cold water didn't help the swim.


This is a very well-run race that attracts a lot of fasties. Rolling course on both bike and run and fairly long distances for a sprint. Five deep for AG awards was nice...especially given that the awards were glasses, rather than typical medals.