Strawberry Fields Triathlon - Sprint Course - TriathlonSprint

The swim felt better than the clock says. I had my stroke right away, anticipated the current to the first turn, and swam through traffic well. I was 1/4 of the way back overall, but there were some fish in my ag. Shrug. I need more time in the pool, or to find slower competitors;)

I swam hard, and was happy that I was in decent shape for the loooong run over the beach to the mat. At the gun, I started at the very back, and felt like I passed people the entire time in the water and running to the mat.

Not much other than train a lot more.

My t1 was about 52 overall, so not all that bad.I felt a little clumsy at the rack, but worked to run hard between the timing mats. I used a trick Steve Fleck told me, to scoop some water into my suit once I hit the shore, and rather than most races this year, the suit didn't stick. Studying the splits, it's clear that the margin in the swim and in transition goes to strong runners. My run fitness is better than ever, and I seemed to pass people running in t1 and t2, but I'm looking forward to being even faster.

Refine dealing with equipment, run faster.

I put everything into the bike leg. I had a good flying mount, and immediately spun up to about 26 mph. I got passed exactly once by the top woman (9 oa), who I hung with for half the course, but I eventually lost contact with her. She was a real lesson in power and efficiency, and I made a point of complementing her bike leg when we finished.

What I figured out this season is that since my bike is my strongest leg, I lose a lot of time if I pace myself, at all, by people who pass me. So this time, I just put the hammer down, and made anyone who tried to chase me suffer.

My run is coming along, so I gambled that I could spend myself on the bike, and still survive.

I nailed cornering, and constantly reeled in swimmers. It was a really fun sufferfest, and I was really impressed with many of the athletes on the road.

BUT, despite my best efforts, I *lost* my ag bike split to an acquaintance who beat me by 9.2s on his way to 2nd in our ag. This is the very first time I can see the value in a set of 808s like he bought since the last time we raced ;)

I'm getting race wheels for next season, and will clean up my cockpit with parts already on order.

Just like t1, this felt a little sloppy, but wasn't a disaster. approx 72 overall.

What a coincidence that my run rank is my ag rank! The legs worked, and I reeled in and passed the two people who slipped by right out of transition, but at the chute, two young guys tore by, and I let them go.

I'm pretty sure the course was mismeasured based on people's times this year and last.

The run felt good, with a solid effort. This is the first race where I could feel the results from my running club, and where I felt like I knew what I was doing.


Keep up the training.

Eating two pounds of strawberries! (Award for a podium spot: another pound of yummy strawberries!)


The numbers are pretty clear that my swim is my weakest spot relative to the rest of the field, followed by a run that's a notch or two behind my bike leg. This is all a matter of time, since I joined a new masters class (10k y/wk), and am seeing constant improvement in my run.


Like most SoCal tris, this was excellent. Perhaps because they had solid USAT officials, I didn't see any of the problems with drafting I've seen earlier this season.

If I want to move up the podium in LA-area races I have work to do! The guy who won the ag had a great swim and solid run. The guy just behind him is a great runner, who ran track in college.

results: http://www.geminitiming.com/posts/strawberry-fields-sprint-triathlo...