Independence Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Had high hopes for this and started out as planned, but it just didn't materialize the way I'd imagined. Time includes about a 100 yard run to the transition area, and probably a good 20-30 yards limping out of the water on unstable, rocky ground; had us all looking like drunkards walking on hot coals. I was a bit over 13 minutes when I first stood up in the water.

I think the course was longer than advertised by a little bit; just a gut feel as I wasn't wasting a lot of time. I was OK and felt fine to the first turn, although I got caught up in a crowd there as the last wave swimmers caught up to me. Same thing at the last turn, with the middle of the last wave catching up. The last leg in, lining up on Piranha's blow-up lighthouse, seemed forever away, and I was starting to get tired trying to get out of people's way. I kept plugging, but it was a long struggle from there.

Not a whole lot I could've done to make it any better. I realize now I wasn't focused on form and smoothness and staying relaxed, which is what I told myself to do.

Seems like this should've been faster since I felt like I was fairly efficient on time. But I was 88/269 in T1, so not that bad.

Be more efficient, if possible. Learn to leave shoes clipped to pedals so I don't have to deal with them in T1. Might've been tough here, though, due to hill out of transition.

From the moment I saw the mount line - and the incline that seemed to be marked by that mount line - my biggest concern was getting clipped in while going uphill; I was actually thinking about it on the swim. I shifted to easiest gear last night in anticipation of this issue, and good thing too; it was tough enough with that gearing and took several tries to get my left foot in. I have to assume the studs and studettes rode the climb out of the park with their feet on the pedals the whole way. TSW told me afterward that a lot of people had trouble and a lot of people crashed.

Course was described as flat, with some rolling, but there wasn't a whole lot of flat out there. If we weren't hammering downhill, we were eking our way uphill. Depending on the length of the previous descent and the climb, I was able to maintain a pretty good pace on some of the uphills, but some were just a grind requiring a shift to easy gears. Road was closed to traffic - very nice, that - so we could move as far left as needed to pass. Some cool sights out there, coming to the top of a hill and seeing the road in front, down the hill and up the next rise, dotted with bikes, almost as if we were all parts of some larger organism.

I wanted to maintain around 200w for the ride; NP came in at 190, so fairly close to that. It was tough to maintain higher wattage on the downhills, very easy to go way beyond goal pace on the uphills. I wasn't passed by anybody on the bike and I picked off quite a few.



Just push it a little harder towards goal pace, but I'm good with this ride. I was in the top 19%, so this was a FOP time even with a sub-18mph average.

Struggled a little bit with the running shoes (wore the Zoots); they feel great for a race of this distance, but they are tough to get on.

Work something out with the shoes to make foot entry easier.

Been running better, but not this good. Was looking to beat 19 minutes, never thought I'd beat 18, so I think course was not quite two miles (Garmin shows 1.90). But felt good on the run, maintained a solid pace; forgot to see what HR was at finish, but it had to be near max if I averaged 161. Caught up to a group of three or four runners toward the end, passed them, with one girl hanging tough before I got past her. I guess she thought, "Oh no he didn't," because she came back to catch me, literally, at the finish. Didn't get a chance to congratulate her, but I'll do it here: Nice job!

Nothing; this was a well executed run for me.

Walked around a bit, drank some water. Felt fine afterwards; these short races are great because you can finish it quickly and not feel bombed out or nauseous. Came away looking forward to cornmeal pancakes at the Cross Keys in Doylestown.


Poor swim...old news. Transitions were a little off.


Good job by Piranha Sports, again. Post-race spread was a bit thin, though, I think because they had to break everything down and pack up quickly in order to meet commitments to the park. Will probably do this race again; it's close to home, quick to complete, and a good workout.