Stoneman Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Man I hate OWS!!! On the plus side, my time was better by around 7 minutes from the previous year. Things started out fine. At around 100 yards, realized that I was about 25 yards off course, heading directly in to the previous wave. Pushed to get back on course. At around 175 yards, I was struggling and had to stop. Up until then, was feeling good, but stopping took all the air out of my sails. Felt like hell and actually told the life guard to take me in as I had no interest in repeating my near drowning of the previous year. After about 10 seconds, looked and saw that I was only 75 yards from the turn around. Asked the guard if she'd stay with me and put my head down and pushed on. Had to stop one more time prior to the half way point and 4-5 times on the way back. It was very discouraging and very frustrating. On the positive side, I was comfortable in the water, did not panic, and made my way safely to each board if I felt tired. Did struggle with navigation the entire way and think I ended up swimming closer to 700 yards than 500 with all my weaving.

I need to (i) spend more time/distance in the pool, (ii) work on my leg strength/kick, (iii) actually practice OWS a couple of times. This one was better and I'm sure each time out will show additional improvement.

As I got close to my bike in the transition area, the real fun began. My left calve decided it wanted to lock up on me. I literally could not get it to release for 15 seconds and was unable to get on the bike shoes. It took me forever to get it to relax and the time I spent here was a total waste. I knew right then that I was going to have to manage my body through the race. Fun.

Need to do some research on what is causing my cramps and address. Not fun to deal with these on race day.

So I'm on the bike, the left calve is cramping and the right decides it wants to play as well!!! That said, I'm crusing along averaging around 18.5 mph and pushing it up over 20 on the flats/down hills + doing OK on up hills. The entire ride is quite interesting. My cardio system is doing great and I'm wanting to kick it up a serious notch. The muscles keep spazzing on me and I need to focus a ton on hydration and managing the effort so they do not lock up. Given the challenge with the legs, I was ecstatic to average over 18mph.

Again, sort out the cramping.

Nothing special here. A moderately paced transition while babying the legs.

Nothing

The run was probably the most frustrating part of the event. Again, the cardio system was screaming "GO!" and the legs were having none of it. I locked up hard one time and had to slow down multiple times. Not really a lot to add here -- a good job of getting all I could out of the crampy legs.

Again, figure out the cramps.

None. When I finished, my wife, Mom, Dad and kids all remarked that they were amazed I did not seem tired -- well hell no, I couldn't go past 60% effort do to the legs. Got some water and a bit of food. Felt great.


The OWS is a huge limiter that's going to require additional focus. Unfortunately it led to the leg cramps which hindered the rest of the race. On the plus side, remained positive through bike and run and feel like I got everything I could out of my body on these two segments.


As usual, the volunteers were outstanding. After event activities and treats were top notch. Two big problems. First, the turn around for the sprint bike was directly in the middle of a long straight away for the oly event. Not safe, not cool. Second, there were no finisher medals -- a small thing, but important to me as I like the momento to keep in my office.