Sullivan Civic Center Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Seeded myself right were I wanted to be. Quoted 6:15 and my actual time in the water was 6:23 according to Beth.

First 150 was good but I got lazy in the middle for about one lap. Probably cost me about 5-8 seconds. Caught myself zoning out, realized it was a race and poured it on to the home stretch.

Hoped out of the pool, got the update from Beth and went on my merry way.

Oh, this is my fastest swim split in the pool ever (5th time doing it) by 13 seconds.

Keep focus.

Typical transition for me. I put on my bike shoes then go running out.

Nothing.

Haven't really put as much intensity time on the bike due to the calf so this was a test. And I was pleased. Sure, I wanted to go faster. There is that thing called wind, though, that does take it out of you a bit.

First lap was just getting into the swing of things. Used the wind to my advantage to push the pace as fast as I could go, knowing the trip into the wind would be fun.

Second lap, pushed it even harder into the wind knowing what to expect on the back side. With just a mile or so left to go, my Garmin sensor on the chain stay started to lightly hit the spokes. GREAT! Don't need that to get caught, flip around and screw me up. Well, it is just far enough back that I can't reach it with my hands, so I coasted, twisted my left heel in and used it to move the sensor away from the spoke. Still don't know how I did it without wrecking. It worked, so went back to pedaling. Slowed down for a good 20-30 seconds down to almost 10mph, so I know I lost some pace there. My goal was to get sub 34 so I was off a bit.

This is my fastest speed at Sullivan ever by almost 1mph. Considering I've done almost no speed work, I'll take it.

Do a more thorough bike check.

So since I have not been doing much running, I haven't had an opportunity to do runs sockless and build up come calouses (sp?). So I put on socks. First sock went on lickety split. Second one, I kept falling over. So I stopped, took a deep breath, thought "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast" and on it went, and then so did the shoe. Off I went.

I really don't like it when my transitions are longer than a minute so I wan't terribly happy with this.

Practice putting on socks while winded.

No pain. I couldn't believe it. With all the calf strain issues I've been dealing with, no pain on the run.

So out the shoot I went, running belt and number in hand. I rarely put it on in T2 since I can do it on the run. Put on the belt, attached the number and took off. Turned into the forest off of the road and I'm all of about 50 yards in when the number falls off. SHOOT. Turn around and go back and get it. Take off again and put the number back on. It almost falls off again as I'm crossing the bridge at the bottom of the hill.

F**k it. I realize that the thing that holds the bib on the right side has been bent and will no longer hold it on so I just keep hold of it. I don't want to lose any more time screwing around with the damn bib number.

And so I take off. First mile, I see a few guys and see a guy without a shirt behind me. Hmmm.... let's see how long I can hold him off. Cross the bridge on the far side of the wooded run and I can still hear and see the shirtless guy behind me. He has only gained a little ground on me, but not much.

Pop out of the woods and coming to the first water stop and I see a bigger guy (#29 I think) and decide to pick him off. I do. Into the woods and back out again and up the last hill (in reality it is just a slight incline) and I realize that the shirtless guy is no longer there.

Pop out onto the road and there is Beth. I'm feeling great. Give her my number and tell her to meet me at the finish line and I really start to pour it on now. I don't remember the last time I felt this good on the run off the bike.

Around the lake and I hear some footsteps. No, it can't be him. This is coming up too fast. Sure enough, it wasn't. A couple, and older man and a woman a few years younger than me go by. I try to lean into it, but without doing much speed work, I was just holding on at this point.

Into the last 0.1 miles and I'm pushing it. Maybe not as hard as I really could, but I was still nervous about my calf. One last guy passed me 40 yards from the finish line (Michigan top on?) and I was done.

I did it. No pain. No pain. No pain.

Felt like I was going to hurl, but that is a good thing.

This is the second fastest run time I've had at Sullivan. And I figure if it hadn't been for the bib issue and apprehension about my calf it could have been faster.

Not get hurt and get a more reliable race belt.

Walked around with Beth. Grabbed a banana and some cookies and then went for a shower. Knew that I wouldn't place so we went ahead and took off.


Calf injury more than anything and in reality, that didn't hold me back. This is the best Sullivan race I have had yet and the best start to a season yet.


As always, Monte puts on a good race. Great for beginners and fun for the veterans. Just a great way to start off the season.