Wildman Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was sighting really well. About 400m in, I decided to backstroke a bit, to get my composure. I'd gone out really fast and was reverting to my "save my life" swimming. So I backstroked a bit and then turned over when I felt ok and freestyled the rest of the way in. Touched bottom when I could and ran out of the water. The run to the transition area was LONG!!! About a minute and a half to get there!

I have to say this was probably the best swim performance yet. Last year I remember being so dead after the swim. I think turning over to backstroke a little was a good decision. I don't know what I'd do differently, I was really satisfied with my swim today.

Well with the transition area being so far from the beach, I was a little bit better organized when I got there. I had some time to catch my breath on the jog from the beach to the transition. I undid my wetsuit as I was running and got my arms and chest out of it before I got into transition. I passed two people walking on their way to transition and cheered them on. I got into transition, dried off a bit and then washed my feet in my foot tub. Put socks and shoes on, and helmet.

Well, after I put my helmet and shoes on, I realized I forgot to take off the bottom of my wetsuit and put on my shirt, so I had to do that. I think I'd just NOT forget to do that and my transition would be better. Other than that, transition was good.

I saw 16:40 on my watch as I exited with my bike.

The transition area was in the middle of a field so you had to run your bike a good 50 yards out to the road where you could mount. Once I was on the bike I felt good. Was out of breath from the transition for about 3 minutes, but by the first mile, I was breathing regularly again. I ripped open a double caffeine powergel and ate that all in one shot. My legs never complained too badly. I saw Jess on the bike a couple times...the second time I started doing PRICE IS RIGHT stuff at her, she laughed. dootdootdootdootdootdoot! DING DING DING DING!!!

I felt a little tired in the middle so I backed off cuz I could feel I was probably in Zone 3. As much as I like to take things to the extreme, in the middle of a race I didn't want to be in that zone, so I backed off. I drank a few times on the course. Gatorade helped a lot. There was a girl who kept doing a pass-me-pass-you thing with me the whole bike portion. I think she was in the Oly but she was gonna transition to run the same time I was so I wanted to just get away from her. I punched it about a mile from the transition and that was the last I saw of her til I lapped her on the run.

I might rethink my speed strategy here. I saw 54:xx on my watch upon entering transition. Could definitely have gone faster on this bike course, but I didn't want to keep passing/getting passed by this girl in the Oly...would have tired me out.

THis was a simple rack and go. No problem here. I took a swig of Gatorade/RedBull mixture, grabbed my gel and went.

Nothing.

I was amazed that I went so fast. I was like...holy crap, a 20 minute 5K?? But then I realized it was 2.75 miles after the race. I saw someone behind me that seemed to be catching up. I saw someone in front of me that I could chase down. So to kill two birds with one stone, I sped up on mile 2. I passed the guy in front of me and I noticed he kept up with me. I passed a few people, and then lapped the girl I was following and finally passed on the bike course. Whoever it was that I passed was still there. I didn't look back. The run was coming to an end and I could hear the race announcer telling me someone was on my back. I sprinted with all I had. The person behind me came in one second after me. I looked at him, and it was Steve! Funny stuff!!

Anyway, my first mile was roughly 8 minutes, my second was 7 minutes, and my last .75 was about 5 minutes, so I was still on a 7:xx pace.

Nothing. I had a great run. Wish it was a real 5K, but hell, I still would have PRed the whole race.

Had lots of gatorade and water. Walked around a bit. Went to the truck to get my camera to take pics of Jess finishing.


Nothing. With that 21:55 5K yesterday, I was in top form for the run today. I don't feel like I got off the bike too tired.


Just wish the distances were a bit more nailed down. I had a great time on this course. But damn, I was just so happy to be tri-ing!!!

Both Jess and I won our age groups. OK, so there were two people in mine. But still, I came in ahead of the other guy. Last year I was last every time, except for once. So last to first in a year is OK with me!! Besides, it gets two of my goals out of the way..."Wildman in 1:15 or less" (ok 1:15:54 is close enough!!) and "start placing in sprint events".

I would definitely do this race again, it was lots of fun!!! I'll bet the Saturday event was more crowded. I wonder how I would have stacked up against the Saturday people...hmmmmmmm.