High Cliff Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

water was very calm and as pretty shallow for most of swim. HIM course looming in the back ground made this course seem small. So everything was in place for a good swim with no freak outs. I actually started out pretty good. I actually said to myself - hey your half way and you have remained pretty calm. then right before the bouy, I came up to sight and swallowed some water and started to gasp and sort of flounder a bit. I started freaking a bit looking for a kayak and then I heard the voice of an older woman behind me say "just relax, flip on your back or do whatever stroke you need to, just relax" So I did. I instantly calmed down, did the breast stroke around the buoy. I am so grateful for that woman. I then put my head down and picked back up with free style. This was going well until I came up to sight and a woman was coming right at me going the opposite direction! It turns out I had strayed off course into the swimmers coming out on the swim. I redirected and got back on course pretty quick. I pushed through the rest at my usual slow pace. I stood up when it got shallow and headed up the hill. Man I love the feeling of coming out of the water!

not panic at all, stay calm without someone else telling me I should. Get better at sighting. Get wet suit. practice, practice, practice the OWS. even though, I felt my swim still stunk, it is slowing getting a little better each time

transition is getting better, didn't worry so much about getting dry. Just made sure my feet were dry. This would have actually been much faster but when I went by one of the racks, it had fallen on a guy and hit him in the back and he was sort of under saying WTF. I stopped and picked up the rack got it unhooked from someone's chain and then travelled on.

just keep moving. the big hill up to transition helped (actually timed as part of the swim) because I was over the "coming out of the water shock" by the time I got in transition

Felt pretty strong considering the distance is on the upper end of my training rides. I did start out somewhat sluggish for the first 5 miles or so, kind of rehashing the swim in my head and not focusing on the bike. decided this was not a tour, but instead a race and kicked into gear. Passed a fair number of people, even some not on mountain bikes!. Of course I also was passed by some, most were moving damn quick.

push harder from the beginning. ride lots more. drink a little. It was cool so I had to kind of force myself to drink

felt pretty good. Just put shoes and went. I did fool with my helmet a little trying to decide were to put it. still wearing socks and I'm ok with that.

don't mess with helmet. get some lace locks

again my best segment. I would have never thought this would be my strong suit. I passed a ton of people and only got passed about 3x.I was not real happy with my time though. I guess taking into account for the big hill, I should be happy, but I really want that sub 24.

push a little harder up the big hill (easier said than done). train some hill repeats.

eat and watch people come in. did try some half-hearted quad stretches and almost fell over


ows fears continue to limit what I can do - luckily they are short(although it doesn't feel that way).
fear also seem to be limiting my performance on the bike and run. the fear that I'm going to burn out before the end of race. I again seem to be leaving too much in the tank and need to push harder from the beginning of each leg. put in more hours in training, especially the bike. More (any) speedwork on run


overall pretty happy with my performance. Based on the course, my times were good for my current ability. (swim notwithstanding) Rank was pretty good. This was helped by the big boys/girls participating in the HIM.