Finger Lakes Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

Wished Dud good luck (we had another bet) before wading into the lake. The air temp seemed to make it colder than my swim the day before. After a quick swim to warm up a little I stood shivering waiting for the gun to go off.

Took off swimming right away. Got into a pretty good rythym I thought, but good swim form for me still takes some thought and when adding in the sighting and other swimmers my form will go to hell. I kept trying to bring it back when I would get the chance to think about it. The bouys seemed to come quickly which was good. Turned to go across the top of the square and it seemed to thin out some. It was also nice to stop fighting the chop. Once at the next bouy I turned towards the beach and felt I made up the most time here. Swam in as far as I could before getting up and running out.

One thing that amazed me on this swim was that at anypoint, other than maybe the furthest point there was always several people walking beside me. Not sure if there were people that walked the whole swim or if they were different people just catching their breath, but it seemed odd to me.

Long run from swim exit to transistion, maybe 300 or 400 yards to the timing mats.

When the time to run from beach to T1 is taken into consideration this is probably one of my better swim results in a sprint race. But, still in the bottom half of my AG so there is still work to do.

I need to take the stuff I learned in the lessons this summer and put in some quality time in the pool during the off season. Need to make proper form something that just happens and not something that takes a lot of thought.

Once you cross the timing mat you have to run the entire length of the transition area before entering, and then I was on the opposite end near bike exit. Although I was over 2 minutes, I was 3rd in AG so I guess everyone had slower T times.

Since I have had so much fun this summer racing a lot of shorter races more often, I guess I should learn to have the shoes mounted and to mount on the fly.

After mounting the bike and hearing Marmadaddy remind me that I am slow in transition I head out onto the bike course. The first mile or so it is tight to pass and so I take what spots I could without putting myself or anyone else at risk, but once on 5 & 20 it opens up and plenty of room to start attacking. Unofrtunately this is also where the uphill begins. Not a steep uphill, just long steady grind the better part of 4 or 5 miles with a couple of spots that it flattens out or a slight decend. Passed a lot of people through this part, a lot of them were on mountain bikes but also some tri and road bikes. Kept the power level just above 220 and kept pushing.

I got yelled at by some lady that I passed for not announcing I was passing. I guess I didn't realize this was a rule. I only do that if someone is squeezing the center or seems oblivious to the fact that they are all over the road (like happend a lot today).

Made the turn onto CR 17 and made quick progress to Depew where it starts to turn back downhill towards the Canandaigua. I got passed by one of the Wegman riders and he was in my AG so I started chasing him. It kind of surprised me when I caught Dud, so I blew him a kiss and kept after my Wegman friend. I was kind of gassed chasing this guy but I hollered for Dud to come along with me, not sure if he heard me or not.

On the shift across 245 people were all over the road and this is where both the Intermediate and sprint distance riders are together. Pushed my way through the traffic and got into some clear roads before the down hill. Made a couple of more passes on the down hill, including my Wegman friend before turning onto East Lake road. Between the speed humps and the number of bikes it was a challenge to make much time through the college and back to Lakeshore to transition so I passed when I could and took the time to get my feet out of my shoes and ready to dismount once at the line.

The last month or so I have been marathon focused at the expense of the bike and swim training. Fortunately the run fitness carries over a little to the bike. This winter the plan is to focus on getting the bike FTP up significantly.

I thought I did better than this, but I think the distance in transition was a factor but since I dropped to 16th in AG for this transition, I guess I was just slower than I should have been.

Move faster

Took off out of transition and the legs just felt good right away. I got into the trails around the lagoon and kept pushing past the other runners but wasn't seeing anyone in my age group other than my bike friend who passed me going into the path like I had cement shoes on!

Once we got back on the road the first mile time was 7:09, not bad but had hoped to be closer to 7. Traffic between the Hess station and the pier was fairly heavy and at times made it tough to pass. Pretty soon I hear someone behind me comment on having to keep up with me as we are in the same age group. Not sure who it is, turns out no one I knew but that kept me motivated to keep the feet moving. Shout out to ridgelake and some other friends I know as the go by the other direction. Most of them doing the Intermediate distance. After leaving the pier the AG guy behind me makes a pass and I stayed with him and it wasn't too long before I was beside him and he starts talking again, Mostly about how many people I know both in the race and along the streets. At about 3/4 to go I decided that I better pick it up and put this guy behind me as to not get passed in the chute. Turns out he dropped off before this but with the chatter of other racers I wasn't sure who was back there.

Nothing, my running has been improving due to the volume and time and work and I couldn't be happier. Still a lot of room for improvement, but it will come with the work.

The new course is longer than the old one by about a 10th.

Found Connie and the pooch, plus my SIL was there as well. Waited with them for a while then met up with Dud, Yvonne, Kam and Rob at different points. Tammy and family was there as well. Lots of fun.


genetics and getting a late start in this sport


A great local race that due to work conflict I had to miss the last 3 years. I was so glad that I could do this again with them switching weekends. Great way to spend time with friends.

Glad to see all of my friends, both on BT and not have successful races. Some AG hardware for some too, congrats Kam!