Riverwood Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

After waiting over two hours after my initial warm-up, my head just wasn't in the game at the swim start. I did start out pretty strong, though, and was closing on the swimmer in front of me on the first lap. She felt me getting closer, and sprinted out to maintain her lead. I passed a couple people at the walls, and I appreciated that they paused to let me pass at the wall. However, that would not last ... during the last 100 yards, there was a very tall, slow girl who was clogging up traffic. The swimmer who started in front of me struggled to get around this Amazon woman, and they swam side by side for 25 yeards, preventing my pass. Then, at the wall with 50 yards to go, the tall girl paused as if she was going to let me pass ... nope! Just as I came up to pass, she pushed off the wall. There was major congestion in the final lane, I couldn't get around her, so I just breast-stroked behind her, then walked the last 5 yards or so because she was so slow ... I lauched up the wall as she ambled up the ladder! So, I finally got around her as we exited the pool! LOL.

I would have aggressively passed instead of trying to be polite. I was unhappy with my swim time, but I have to factor in the fact that I dog-paddled along behind the Amazon woman to be polite, instead of passing. Next time, I'll climb over them if I have to.

I could NOT get my stupid socks on. I spent far too much time getting suited up for the bike. I was very disorganized, and did not have this TA set up in a very user-friendly manner.

I had all my gear on my towel. My socks didn't go on easily because I was wet ... if I had things set up to wipe my feet off, I think they would have gone on faster. I thought I had everything set up well, but didn't ... so I'll spend some time working on TA set up and procedure.

Within 30 seconds of starting the bike, I could tell my legs were not there. I don't know what it was, but I think I was just not warmed up very well. As the race course shot out of the country club area and onto a "main" country road, I put some riders in my "take down" sights ... only, I could not catch them! Then the traffic hit ... there was a rider about three car lengths in front of me. Three cars passed me, tucked inbetween me and the other rider, then could not pass him because of on-going traffic. Then we caught up with a girl on a mtn. bike who was holding up a group of cars as well. So, there we were ... bikes and cars going about 10mph. And, of course, the cars kept punching the peddle, then braking, then weaving ... they were about a patient as Fat Joe in a buffet line. Once traffic cleared, I settled in a little bit, got into a pace, and took down 3 or 4 riders, finally. I was then alone for a long time. Eventually, I caught a few more cyclists on an up-hill stretch. I then hit a nice, long downhill where I thought I would build speed and catch my breath ... but it was not to be. At this point, the headwind decided to be at its worst, and I had to work hard to maintain 15mph DOWN the hill. Ugh! We finally made a turn where there was no wind, and I spotted a good cyclist ahead of me. I put my head down, dropped into the big ring, and hit 28mph in an effort to run her down. We hit some hills, she bolted out of the saddle ... and dropped me. I was alone again for a long stretch. In the last couple miles, I hit a pothole and dropped a full bottle of water. I looked back to see another cyclist gaining on me, and dodging my water bottle. A couple tough hills, then I rode hard to the finish. I finally started to feel better on the bike ... but the ride was over.

A lack of a proper warm-up affected my whole race, I think. My legs just were not ready to go. I would have warmed up more, maybe a jog to get the legs going. I also wore the shirt I was going to run in, so I had my race number pinned to the shirt. On the ride, it was distracting ... so I will not wear my race number on the ride again!

I was SO angry about my sub-par ride that I was not in a good mood. My sweet girl (fitphd), having already finished her race, was in the TA. She cheered me in, then ran/walked with me to my TA ... which was WAY back. I jogged for a little while, then just got more mad about my bike, and started walking "in protest." That slowed me a lot. Changing into running gear went fast, and the actual management of this T2 was fine ... the slow time is attributed to my indifference.

I need to forget about the race stage I just completed, and just focus on getting the next stage going. I was so mad about my bad ride that I let it take me out of the game. I need to just focus on getting the run on!

The run is the worst of my three sports. I look to pick up some time on the bike, so when I had a bad bike I let it affect my run. I was just out of it at this point, and had a bad attitude. I felt pretty good on the run, but could not catch my breath at first. So I dropped to a 1:1 run walk, then increased to 2:1, then 3:1. I started to feel better, but then hit the last hill. I was pissed about this race, no doubt about it. I let the mental aspect break me, and when I got to that final, long hill, I broke. I was mentally out of it, not having fun, and just wanted to take a golf cart to the finish. Shannon was there to root me up that hill and run with me, but my bad attitude overtook her great attitude. I hate that I couldn't push through the mental crap!

I would have run that last hill, and gutted it out. My head was so far out of the game at this point, that I could not make myself do it. However, I hope to not let the mental thing get me down and ruin the entire race.

Mike (HookedOnTri) had some great, cold drinks waiting at the finish line ... the drinks were WAY back at the TA, and not close to the finish line. Also cheering me in was my girl, Shannon. We visited, watched Dollar (ADollar79) come in, and then walked back to the TA. There was free food, so we got some pizza, fruit, and more drinks and sat on a sunny hill and chilled. It was nice!


I didn't warm up well, and let myself become too much of a "spectator" while waiting the 90 minutes for my race start. I think this lack of warming up took my body AND mind out of the race. I was just not ready to go from the start, and never really recovered.


I wish I could have just put my bad race behind me, and enjoyed Shannon's company during that last stretch. I am NOT a pro, I am NOT someone who will place in races ... I am a weekend warrior, who needs to enjoy the training and races as a fun activity, and NOT a competition. So, I will commit to having FUN in these races no matter what my performance is! As for the organization of the race, it was good. The main change I would make is to have someone providing finsh-line drinks to participants, instead of making us walk all the way back to the TA to get hydration. The finish line is a part of a street festival, so there were vendors there ... but no support for the triathletes. I would do this race again, though.