Sharon's Back Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

After a bad swim in my previous tri I purposefully went out slow and didn't really kick until first buouy. Probably overcompensated for one bad day. Swam steadily but never really got into true race mode, might have left 30 secs to a minute on the table. I can easily swim .5M in 16 mins

Go back now to relatively quick start and try to keep pace. Been working on that in training since

A little slow geting wetsuit off and slightly disoriented maybe due to light drizzle/rain. Nothing major though, 4 bikers were trying to mount in same spot, tried to run past them but still caused a slight delay.

Focus, practice

Pushed hard and had a good bike ride, but cramped very early, then on and off later. Cost me a minute max, but was still my quickest out of 3 Sharon races. I forgot usual pre-race banana so maybe this was a factor in cramping plus wet cooler day had me thinking hydration wasn't an issue and I was thirsty even before swimming.

Drink and fuel a bit more immediately prior to race. Try to up salt content in body the week of race, take some ibuprofen

Crowded again at dismount which slowed me down, then I think I almost knocked over bike next to me and that took a few extra seconds. Overall pretty good as at least half of transition was just getting from entry to rack to exit.

Maybe position end of bike ride to be ahead of pack. Really try to run fast with bike.

I had a good run especially since I was worried about carryover cramping from bike. Took it steady first 1-2 miles then gradually increased speed particularly after I ate a GEL that random handed to me at mile 1. Couple guys in my age group shot past me with just under 1M to go and didn't have enough to keep pace with them but inspired me to quicken pace and push hard for last mile.

Don't come off bike dehydrated or crampy and push from get-go

Jumped into water!


Cramps


This is a great, well run sprint race with distances that are slightly more challenging than typical. The rain was a bummer until start, didn't effect race too much and had mostly stopped once on bike though roads were still wet. Disappointed that my time was just over 1 minute worse than last year (first time I've ever had a slower time in repeat race), but every element was 20-30 secs quicker except swim which was 2:30 slower. So longer swim course for sure and slightly slower swim speed.