Mountain Man Sprint Tri - TriathlonSprint

"That poor boy's just gettin' beat up!" I can hear the announcer muttering to himself. Gasps of horror from the onlookers. I was like a buoy for everyone to go around. Not my best swim! I have been doing a lot of OWS w/o my wetsuit lately and figured I'd go without for this race. In hindsight, not the best decision. The water was colder than they said (I'd guess high 60's) and it had more of an effect on me as the swim went on. When I got out, I was freakin' COLD!

Also, I seeded myself at the front of the churn, 2nd row middle. I had people knocking me left and right for the first 200M, and I never got into my rhythm. Probably because I was wondering if I could still go to my car and get my wetsuit.

Wear my wetsuit. Also, seed myself better/closer to the edges. The water entry is pretty narrow, and I should have gotten to an edge to get out of everyone's way and concentrate on my stroke. Definitely my worst swim of the year. My wife actually thought she missed me getting out of the water!

Transition was fine. Luckily I didn't have that pesky wetsuit to slow me down! My spot was all the way near the bike-out/run-out area, not that it really affected anything. I had the fastest T1 time in my AG.

Nothing.

I was cold for the first few miles of the bike. After I got going, the bike felt good. The course was easy to ride fast, and there wasn't much car traffic. Also, with only one turn-around it made it easy to keep fairly constant power.

Nothing.

I hesitated putting my shoes on for some reason. Probably only lost a couple of seconds, but it's really not very difficult. Must be old age catching up to me.

I should have run faster with my bike. I had a long way to go with it and didn't go very quickly through the transition area. I think the small pebbles and my bare feet also affected my speed.

I didn't push too hard at the beginning of the run. I was hoping for a better split. Based on my 310 time and distance, my overall average was about right for the altitude but a man can hope.

Need to do some more tempo work in training. My run is getting faster slowly but I have only been doing short fartlek intervals.

Looked for my wife and hung out with her and our ridgeback devil-dogs. Waited for my friend to finish and chatted for a while. Put up with some ribbing from him since he beat me out of the water. Then my dog tried to pee on his leg. Spoke to a few people, gathered my stuff and packed up.


Me. I should have swallowed my pride earlier, then I wouldn't have swallowed so much lake water later. At the same time, I'm glad I tried it. I'm also not used to the narrow chute for water entry. I need to be more aware of these kinds of things as I line up to start. I didn't think I would be as slow as I was. I also think the lack of sleep affected me. Caffeine and cold water can mask it for a little while, but I'm pretty sure it hurt my performance.


This is a fun race. The altitude can get you if you're not used to it. It seems most people feel it on the swim, I know I did. The course isn't bad and is usually in good shape. I knocked 16 minutes off of my time from last year, so I'm happy about that.