Lowell Mill City (sprint) - TriathlonSprint

Mighty Merrimack river was hard to see more than a foot or two below water surface. Could have done swim without wetsuit, water temps were nice. Utilized wetsuit anyways. Headed directly towards turn-around buoy, sighting often making sure not to get off-course. Almost had a couple of head on collisions with and earlier wave starting swimmer; seem to be alittle off course.

Maybe push a little harder on the swim.

Transitioned well. Jogged/ran from swim exit to bike, and out of T1. Helmet, sunglasses,race belt on. Had shoes clipped into pedals, started out of T1 and waited about 1/4 mile up the road to slip into shoes. Left T1 and had 4 or 5 persons, immediately stop to mount bike right away, so I literally ran with bike up another 20 feet and mounted here. Less hectic.

Felt like I was dodging more holes, choppy road conditions, than I was use to. Had a few issues with my gearing a couple of times; running a 10 speed, but only had what felt like 8. Rear derailler needs a tuneup/adjustment. Knew I hadn't ran much/if any in last 3 months; saved a little for the run segment.

Had my right leg cramp up a little as I bent over to put on running shoes. Spent a moment to stretch that out real quickly.

Had a right tibial stress fracture since April, so besides one other 3 mile run during a tri last month, and another 1 mile jog a couple of weeks ago, I have ran a total of 4 miles since April in training! Spent all winter working on my run; figured this season to average a sub 7-min mile pace on run segments. But my early spring injury had stopped that progress. Run felt ok; had to stop a couple of times to tighten up my calf compression brace straps. Had to stop twice due to a side stich! Haven't had to deal with side stiches running in months; don't know where they came from. Got fluids at each water station; quick drink then the rest to body to keep cool. Sun was blazing this am. Felt good, but made the run pretty warm. Still ran a 8 min 30sec pace considering I had to stop and walk a couple of time for a few seconds.

Get back my running speed. Early spring injury had limited most if not all run training this summer. Hoping to get back my run speed; heal previous injury completely.

Fluids, fruit, and a sugary donut! Relaxed, stretched, hydrated. Changed cloths and waited for awards ceremony.


No run training over last 3 to 4 months! Tibial stress fracture from early spring has dramatically slowed down my run speed.


Smaller race as far as participants. Nicely organized event. Awards included metals and for the top finishes a nicely hand painted awards plate. Something different,nice touch. Road conditions for bike segment sort of rough, but nothing orgnizers can do about that. Only negative thing about this event.....the bike racks in transition were terrible! I personally saw 3 racks get toppled over and I was told by my transition neighbor that the rack I was on also, fell right after I left T2. Saw a few very expensive bikes go falling to the ground. Too bad. Each time you racked your bike or anyone else did on the same rack the whole thing moved and swayed. Improvements definately needed here.
Otherwise, very fun event. Weather was great, nicely organized! Special thanks to Lowell Police Dept. for providing a safe crossing of all necessary busy intersections and crossing! They were very supportive of all athletes! Would probably do this event next year.