Shadow Creek Ranch Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

It is my best swim to date for this distance. I didn't get a panic attack and backstroke at all this time. For the first time I caught someone in the wave ahead of me! Just took long smooth strokes. Actually backed off a couple times when I came up on someone ahead of me. I was afraid I was going too fast.

Not back off when overtaking someone. I may finally be improving enough to quit trying to just "survive" the swim.

Steep hill up out of the water. Felt good enough to run up it. I was so happy to freestyle the whole swim. Ran right to my bike. Didn't set out my Halo, which caught me off guard. I always put it on under my helmet. Went without it.

I thought this went pretty well.

I pushed harder than normal on the bike to achieve greater than 20 mph avg. Ecstatic with my time. Had 4 or 5 speed demons pass me like I was standing still. Backed off a little halfway through the first lap so I could push hard the entire 2nd lap. Drank about 20 oz. on the ride so I wouldn't need to drink on the run.

The bike next to me parked his bike using the brake levers. Didn't leave any room for my bike. I had to slide it down to get my seat on the rack. I had passed my buddy Darren on the bike. I look up and he's beating me out of T2. I had a little trouble getting shoes on.

Pretty happy with this time. Going sockless has really helped my transition times.

Took off out of T2 after Darren. My back was stiff, so I started out easy. Had 4 or 5 people pass me in the first 1/4 mile. Could see Darren 100 yds ahead and worked to slowly increase my stride. Overtook all 5 folks who passed me out of T2 and caught Darren around mile 1. Still felt slow and hot. Dumped water over my head each water area. Around mile 1.5 another guy in my AG passed my so I went with him. Around mile 2.5 I started losing ground to him. At 200 yds out, I could see the finish, so I started sprinting. I caught him and another guy in my AG at the line. Moved up 2 places. I didn't care that it was for 18th place, it felt good. It should make a cool finish line photo with 3 of us right there.

Push harder throughout. I have been running low 8s this year in races. I pushed harder on the bike, so I will need to push harder to get results on the run too.

My warm down was looking for some shade to collapse. Grabbed a Snapple from a nearby vendor. It was perfect.


I was above avg in the bike, run, and transitions. I am way below in the swim.


This was the inaugural event for Shadow Creek Tri. Other than starting late, I thought it went well from my perspective.