California Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Felt very relaxed from the start up to the first buoy. Made the left hand turn and headed toward the second buoy, and started to experience a little trouble breathing. I think it was nervousness. Anyway, I flipped over on my back a couple of times to catch my breath. While swimming, I could not help but think to myself, "Wholly crap, the water is warm and I'm burning up in this damned suit!" By the time I hit buoy #2, I started to get a mild side stitch, which has never happened to me before. After I sighted on the inflatable finish sign, my mind completely zeroed in on finishing.

Continue to enter triathlons and get comfortable with OWS with other people. Each swim gets progressively better, and I am happy about that. I continue to take swim lessons and work on my stroke, efficiency and timing, which are also issues for me.

Well. T1 turned out to be a lot faster than I thought it would be. I'm pleased it was this fast.

Continue to improve, and try to get this below 2'.

This was a very flat course - as flat as you'll get in the bay area. It took me about 2-3 miles for my breathing to settle down. At times I felt I could have pushed it harder on the bike, but here I was in my 3rd race ever and I found myself thinking a little more about how I felt in the moment, and whether to push it & how that might impact my run. Continued to focus onmaintaining a comfortable pace. Later on in the race though my conservative bike ride ended up being the best decision. I did not use a HRM.

Go little harder on the bike.

This went well. No complaints.

Try to get this down under 1'.

Where do I start with this run? Let's go back to my conservative bike leg, and in hindsight I am happy it was conservative. Next, I entered today's sprint race, not the olympic distance race. Unfortunately, there was an issue with race course markings. Other than one 1-mile marker, there was no other signage on the course to delineate where the Olympic distance triathletes and Sprint triathletes were to run. There was a small amount of course overlap in the two races, but most of the sprint triathletes were not directed to a crutial turn off. At about the 3.5 mile point - out on Vineyard Avenue - sprint runners began asking each other if the course felt long. A woman running next to me looked at her watch, and she said, "It's very long - I'm already at 33'." Event organizers had already altered the bike route, so I just assumed they altered the run, too. We eventually reached a turn around point out on Vineyard Avenue, but I'm not convinced that was where the turn around point was supposed to be based on the Google map linked on the race website. The volunteer at the turnaround was talking on his cell phone as I ran around the orange cone, so I wonder if he really knew where the turn around should be or if he cared! Anyway, I made my way back to the Shadow Cliff Park, down a hill, up the other side to a water station, and asked "which way for the 5k?" The volunteer directed me down another very long straight stretch that is on top of what appears to be a levy, and by this point I thought to Garmin-less myself, "OK, I've probably run 5 miles by now." So, I run to the end of this levy and back, and when I arrive back at the water station, a different volunteer asks if I am in the sprint race, and I answered "yes" as I notice runners who are well behind me now being directed over the top of the levy and down the hill directly to the finish line. It was at this point that I learned many (or most) of the sprint racers ran the 10k course. The volunteer looks at us and says, "We'll sort it out at the finish." WHAT????? I thought to myself, "You needed to sort it out 3.1 miles ago." When I arrived at home I went to the Oly distance website, and verified that I did, in fact, completed the Olympic run course.

Under the circumstances I'm glad I didn't hammer the bike.

Grabbed an ice cold towel and a bottled water at the finish line and then mosied over to get a bagel. Checked out my finish time. Walked around a bit, and them rounded up my gear and packed-up the car for the drive home.


At this point, I am still learning my limits and where I can go harder, and if I go harder on the bike how will that impact my run.


Event organizers must do a better job of marking the course. I am giving this race a 4 because it is their first year hosting this race at this location. It's an excellent location for a triathlon. Hope it's better run next year. My only suggestion to the race organizers would be to improve the transition area security. Unfortunately, too many non-participants were allowed in the transition area, and I felt uneasy about leaving my stuff there.