Riverwood Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This swim was interesting. I did well, but I never got into a groove. The fact that it was relatively short covered up for that a bit. I was averaging about 20-21 strokes/25 yards. I underestimated my swim time a little, since I've not really been hitting the pool all that hard. LOL I passed 4 people, I think, including two at once on the 5th lap. That took a lot out of me. My breathing was really good. I got good push offs from the walls, considering I have never bothered to learn how to do flip turns. LOL I completely zoned out at the swim start and pushed the wrong button on my HRM trying to start it. I just started it at the mat into T1. My HRM strap got pushed down a couple of times while pushing off the wall. It was a bit distracting. I let rip with a huge WHOOOOOOOO! after I climbed out of the pool. :) The swim time includes about 20 - 30 seconds of running to T1. Taking that off my swim time leaves an average pace at or under 1:40/100 yards. Rocking!!!

Start my HRM properly, tighten my HRM strap, estimate my time a bit more accurately so I don't have to pass as many people, MAYBE eventually learn flip turns. :O

T1 was pretty good. It took me a bit longer to get my stuff on, especially my socks, than I wanted. Chalk this one up to not having a T1 since this race last year. I really didn't rush very much.

Oh, I also put my shirt on backwards, but I didnt' notice until after I finished the race. LOL

Quicker with socks and just a bit more overall urgency.

I went into this race with the intention of hammering the bike. For me, at least, I did just that! LOL I took 5 minutes off of my time from last year. I jumped on the gas right from the mount line. Drinking slowed me up a bit more than it should, but I have not practiced it in a year. I knew the course, having done it last year, so I was ready for the 1/2 mile climb at mile 11. I was up out of the saddle for several climbs, something that I did very little of last year. I passed a couple of people and was only passed by a handful of very strong riders. I pounded it right up to the dismount line. I'm very pleased with this ride! :)

I drank most of a 24 oz bottle of Gatorade and it was too much. It slowed me on the run a bit. 1/2 bottle would be fine. More practice drinking while riding and more bike workouts at this pace will help in the future. As well as I did personally, I was still in the bottom 1/3 of my age group on the bike. Man, these tri folks are good riders! :)

Good T2. My running with the bike was OK, until I almost lost my balance rounding a corner. LOL I continued running 1/2 of the length of the transition area, then had to walk for a bit to my rack. Got my shoes changed quickly (love the Yankz) and stretched very quickly.

Nothing comes to mind other than more training bricks to be able to skip the stretching part. Maybe 15 seconds.

My left calf decided it was going to protest and started to cramp. I had to stop to stretch it out two times in the first 1/2 mile. After that, my legs started to loosen up nicely, but I got a good side stitch from drinking too much on the bike. I had to ease up my pace a bit to recover from that. These distractions slowed me down a bit, but more importantly, took away my mental focus on running hard. I never shifted back into a higher gear after the side stitch went away. I did push hard for the last 1/4 mile or so, but my last 2 miles could have been better.

Be smarter about drinking on the bike, and just brick, brick, brick! I've only done one brick workout all year so far. I know this will at least keep my legs from cramping as much, even if they still feel like rubber at the beginning of the run. More biking, and more intense bike workouts will also allow me to ride like I did today and not kill my legs. Man, did I ever have fun, even on this run! :)

Walked 1/2 mile from the finish line back to the T area where the drinks were. They moved the finish line this year to the middle of the street festival, which was great, but they didn't move the athlete's drinks near the finish line. (My only complaint with the race, and very minor) Loaded up my bag with a dozen or so assorted drinks and carried them back to the finish line for others to grab. Watched for theattorney to finish, but missed him while checking the preliminary results. Chatted with theattorney and fitphd a bit, then loaded up and headed out to Alex's hockey game.


More training? Always a given. Specifically, more biking and more hard rides. Bricks! I guess more than 3 hours of sleep might help, but I never felt fatigued.


This is a great setting for racing. The country roads are beautiful and quiet, with a good sprinkle of hills. The neighborhood is very nice with a pretty run along the path around the lake. The street festival and general race atmosphere are just fantastic. The pool was a bit warm, but the swim was short enough that I never got overheated. They added 100 slots to the race cap this year and it capped out for the first time. Setup always does a great job with their races. The food looked great, but I had to split and couldn't wait in the line for it. This is the first race that I've done more than once. I sure hope I'm able to do it again next year!