Cranberry Country Triathlon - Triathlon

This past week I had been on the fence regarding whether or not to wear the wetsuit. When I bought it last year I was around 10-15 pounds heavier than I am now so it's just a little loose. Decided last night to go with it which turned out to be a good call. I was sighting every 6 strokes so it really helped prevent my legs from dropping.

Time to retire my goggles. Despite all efforts I could not keep them from fogging up. Would not be a problem until return swim toward finish where with the fog and the intermittent sunlight had trouble sighting buoys.

Before start talked with fearless leader of Team Riff Raff (i.e. Seth) who suggested to Rob and I that we hammer for about 200 yards and let other people pass us vs. struggling to pass others. This is exactly what I did. However, in our wave we also had the relay so a lot of strong swimmers. The first 200 yards were a pure mugging. Worse than I've ever experienced in a race to date but it's all part of the game. Hit, kicked in the face, lots of bumping. After the 2nd buoy finally felt like I had some space to get into a good rhytm. Sighting was good going out and across. So about 1/2 way through the swim I get hit in the middle of the back but some guy who must've thought it would be easier to swim over me than around. Would come to find out post race it was Rob (he recognized the straps from my goggles). I think he was really trying to grab my leash and hold on for a tow.

As above, time for new goggles. After this season will need to buy a new wetsuit that fits. Aside from that I'm really happy with my swim. While I may not have been a lot faster than last year I finished feeling less fatigued.

So techinically this didn't happen in transition but will describe here. Before the race I had been warning my friend about the hill coming out of the water up toward transition and to take it easy and be carefull. Do I listen to my own advice. Heck no. I was in the 5th wave (6 waves total). By the time I get to the swim exit the carpet up the hill is soaked. There's a volunteer 1/2 way up saying to watch for the step up (over a root). I step up, my foot slips out and I'm down landing with my left quad hitting the root. Would feel soreness throughout the day which I'm not going to say affect my race at all. Post race despite ice and motrin the area is pretty sore. Oh well.

Get out of my wetsuit which sticks on my L heal. Shoes, sunglasses, helmet on and I hear "Hey Aaron". Darn it (cleaned up for BT) ... there's Rob. I'm supposed to have a lead on him after the swim. We end up leaving T1 together (this will be a theme for the day). I end up rushing too much, have trouble clipping in and it isn't until Seth yells catch your breath that I clip in and go but not until Rob rides by me.

Not fall on the swim exit (maybe wear spikes to climb that hill). Slow down and relax while getting on bike. Still faster transition than last year so I'm happy.

I couldn't be happier with this bike. Felt great, nutrition went great. Pace is the fastest I've ever had in a race. Now the smackdown details...

So coming out of T1 Rob passes with a little tap on the back as I'm trying to clip in. I end up marking him and staying 5 bike lengths behind for the first 7 miles as we cruise along at 20+ mph passing lots of people. Hit the crummy road section and I backed off as lots of folks in that stretch and I wanted to make sure I had a line and didn't blow a tire hitting a pothole. Once past this section decided to pass Rob and see if he had the legs or if he'd be feeling Timberman. Get past him and never looked back. Just kept hammering away trying to keep cadence in high 90's figuring he was back there. Pass Polly at around 10 miles (she was looking good on that new blue Guru). Around 6 miles from the finish I come upon a large line of folks and hear a roar coming from behind. Rob blows by and I jump on it to try to match his acceleration. End up passing him back and asking what that was all about. Post race would learn that his hope was he would get by the group and open up a gap while I tried to get by. We end up coming into T2 at the exact same time having had an absoultely great ride.

Nutrition: 1 bottle Accelerade (drinks every 10 minutes), 1 Aerodrink w/ water (ad lib and with Cliff shot blocks), 3 Cliff shot blocks at 10 min into bike and 50 minutes into bike.

Not a thing.

Really happy with T2. Everything went well except I got a little twisted around and started toward the bike in/out. Rob yells "Aaron, this way" (Thanks Cappy). We leave T2 together to let the "smackdown" be decided on the run. My kids had made a cool "Go Dad" banner for me which I see at this point. Give Seth a high 5 and off.

Run the right way out of transition. Worst part is before the race I had gone through an explantion for my friend how you would be coming in and exiting the various transitions. Again listed to myself.

So here we go. Rob and I have matched each other the entire way. After 9 months of talking smack it's going to come down to a 6 mile run. Start out at what feels like a comfortable pace (guessing around 8:45 based on the first mile) that I would've been happy to run the entire way. 1 mile into run Rob becomes a wise a$$ in front of the official photographer. Look over my shoulder and there he is doing something with his left hand over my head and this right giving thumbs up. Must've been funny as the photographer was laughing. Can't wait to see that pic. We run pretty much stride for stride for 3 miles. At 2 miles Jorge pulls up in a car and I hear him and Rob talking about having Jorge trip me. Was going to throw my water at Jorge but held back. Hit the mile 3 water station and was feeling really good, took in 1/2 a Carb Boom gel and started to pick up the pace. Grabbed cups of water at each aid station and took a couple of sips but never stopped. Almost drowned myself trying to drink at 2 mile aid station. Come up on Bait Boy (Dan - felloffmybike) who is hopping on his right leg trying to stretch his left quad (?). Catch May and after I'm by her she says she hasn't seen Rob yet. So I think "is Rob right behind me and she's just saying this so I don't know he's there or is he really not there". Don't look back as I'm afraid to know. Just steadily kept picking up the pace. Gutted up the incline at 5 miles and just thought bring it home strong. Really picked up the pace the last mile and finished stronger than I ever recall finishing any run. Crossed the line having taken down the pirate! "Smackdown" bragging rights are mine!



nothing. Run went better than I ever imagined.

I'm actually really psyched about my overall pace. Glad I didn't look at my mile splits during the race but in retrospect it would be nice to know how fast I was really running those last 3 miles.

Need to figure out how I can run a 10k at this pace after swimming and running but can't translate this pace to similar distance runs when done as stand alones.

Hydrate, hung out watching other BTers finish.

Mimimal stretching


Not even going to try to analyze this race. Despite the longer swim and bike I managed to take 4:44 off last years overall time. Could I figure out ways to go even faster? I'll worry about that next season. Right now I'll just enjoy.


I really like this tri. It was my first Oly and enjoye the venue, course, etc. Very well organized. Suggested to a friend that she do this as her first Oly this year and it left her with the same positive feelings I had after doing it last year. Great venue to be able to hook up with all the Mass/CT BTers.

What a great day of competition head to head against a great friend! When I registered I opted for age group rather than clyde so that we would be in the same wave. Given how the day played out with Rob and I matching one another I'm glad I did. Gotta give Rob his due as he is one strong athlete putting in such a strong performance only 1 week after having a great race at Timberman last weekend.