Giant Eagle Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Great start and settled in quick. Minimal contact for me along the route made it a very uneventful swim. Swim may be my favorite part of the tri. I just take it easy, keep my head down (of course breathing every now and then), and focus on nice easy strokes. Came out of water in no time.

Nothing.

No wetsuit made this an easy transition. Only problem was I ran around for 15 seconds looking for my bike. I usually have a towel on the ground that I can find with no problem, I didn't have this since there were multiple transition areas and I didn't want a lot to clean up. Once I found it, it was quick. Glasses on, helmet on, and take off.

Before the race, I swear I went from the beach to the TA 3 times so I could easily locate my bike. I guess I need to put a towel down no matter what.

Loved it with the exception of the traffic. On the corner of Old State and E. Powell, there was a ton of traffic that I didn't know how to handle. I was passing cars on the left that wanted turn right, police were coaching us in and the guy behind me was as confused as I was, but we made it through there with a minimal loss of speed.

After that, it was great. I really liked seeing all the people on the side of the road cheering. You also needed to keep your head up because there were some pot hole repairs and manhole covers that you needed to avoid. Also saw some pieces of glass here and there that I luckily avoided. Was sweating like a pig, so I took many salt tabs, Gu, and a ton of water along the route.

Kept a great pace and passed a bunch of people, was only passed by 2 people.

Love the fact that I didn't have to find my spot in the TA and someone just took my bike. That was great. I refused to sit down on the chairs to change into my shoes so I didn't get comfortable. Helmet off, soocks on, shoes on, hat on, drop of my bike bag on the way out and go...

I love the short runs on Sprints. No reason to take water and I can go hard. I took off too fast and had to settle down for a bit for my HR to come down, but time flew, I kept a decent pace. Probably could have gone a little harder, but went well. One comment is when I made the seemingly final turn, I saw the muscle milk inflatable arch and thought that was the finish line, I should have read the map beforehand since I had another 150m after that. But I still tried to kick in to the finish.

Great vibe downtown with the finish. It was a top notch event.

More speedwork and training.

Got a lot of water and bananas. Walked it off a bit.


The heat and lack of speed training


Great race for the innagural event. I've only done 3 tris prior to this and this is by far my favorite race that I've done. Well put together. The communication about the process for the race that was sent out beforehand was well documented. It needed to be considering the 2 transition areas and I think the planning that went into thsi made it a great event.

There were tons of volunteers and they all did a great job. I am really impressed with HFP's ability to get so many people to help out. This race was the highlight so far of my short tri career. Well worth getting my butt out of bed at 4:25.