Druid Hill Park Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

The swim was in an outdoor pool and was 12 lengths of the short dimension (25 yard) so it was a bit interesting in that there was no real time to get into a flow, after every turn it seemed like you'd take 7 or 8 strokes and then be prepping for the next turn.

It started out just fine for me, I hit the water and was swimming fairly well even though I think I konked my head on the lane dividers at every turn. On the 5th length I caught the swimmer in front of me, but couldn't really pass since the lanes were so tight so I kind of tucked in for the rest of the length at the turn I tapped her foot to let her know that I was behind and able to pass, but I didn't get the chance until the turn at 6/7 by this point I had slowed enough that I was now getting caught by the swimmers behind me. So for lengths 6,7,8 we had just a big cluster of folks all piling up... felt like an OWS for a little bit! Anyhow once all that cleared out I finished fairly strong, but ran into another issue. The swim finished at a wall without a ladder so everyone had to climb out of the pool... this really backed things up when I was coming in on the last length I literally stopped and was wading through the water waiting to get out, there were at least 3 or 4 people "in line" to climb out of the pool.

Once out of the pool it was a looooong jog to T1... you had to run along the length of the pool, out a gate, down a sidewalk, up a set of stairs, and across a street up to the grassy area where the transition was. The timing mat was at the top of the stairs, so I'd honestly say that everyone's swim time contains at least 30-40 seconds of time spent out of the water making your way to T1.

Not much really, all of the things that impacted my time were really out of my control.

Pretty decent transition for me. I decided not to do the flying mount, not sure what all went into that decision, but I went with it. It wasn't so bad... I came in from the swim wiped my feet on my towel while putting on my helmet, leaned down and pull on the shoes and grabbed my bottle of HEED and took a few sips, grabbed my bike and I was off. Not the fastest time but good enough for 12/90 for all men.

Maybe do the flying mount, other than that it was a pretty OK transition.

So I had feared the bike course coming into the race... I heard some horror stories from last year and was concerned. The parts of the loop in the park has speed bumps and there is one decent downhill section which goes immediately into a 180 degree turn at the bottom.

I came out of transition and got up to speed fairly easily, but I was unfamiliar with the course so I don't think I really went as hard as possible when the road allowed it. Once we left the park and were on the perimeter road it was a slight incline for about a half mile this was followed with a slight decline for the next half mile. I wasn't too sure of the course so I though this might be the nasty decline with the 180 degree turn, so I really didn't hammer down this section our of caution. Turns out this was not the fabled decent so I lost an opportunity to gains some time. Once we turned off this road we moved into the actual big hill with the turn... needless to say I feathered the brakes the whole way here and only allowed myself to hit a max speed of 28MPH, once around the turn there was a pretty decent climb back up hill into the park. In the park the next mile or so was pretty flat but there were speed bumps throughout so it was a matter of going hard and then braking to the point you were comfortable jumping over the speed bumps... not ideal.

After the 4 mile mark we made our way out of the park again for the second loop. I knew the course now, and was able to better manage my effort. I did negative split, so if I knew the course I could have done much better.

Take the roadie instead of the the TT bike since this was much more of a 'technical' ride than it was an areo hammer fest. Also, pre-ride the course so I know it before the start.

Got out of my shoes on the last part of the bike leg and executed a decent flying dismount, came into T2 pretty easily and got my shoes on quickly, grabbed another swig from my bottle of HEED and was off. 12th of 90 for all men.

Not much this was pretty good, no major hang ups except for the feeling that my left shoe wasn't on right.

Overall the run was pretty good, I did get a diaphragm cramp towards the end and I had a shoe issue straight out of transition, but otherwise all was well.

As I was running out of T2 I felt a weird lump in my left shoe... but since we were in a grassy field, and I had on the lightweight shoes I just figured it was the terrain under my feet, but once on the paved path it was still there so I knew something was up. I had to stop to straighten things out so I bent down and pulled my shoe off and on again... I think my insole got shifted around 'cuz this seemed to clear things up. So after that hiccup I was off and running.

I wanted to make sure I put it all out there on the run, but I knew that being such a flat course I had the chance of cooking myself too soon, so I spent the first mile just settling in and not letting myself get too over anxious chasing people down. I think I did pretty well, I was pretty quickly able to get my HR down to the low 170s and settle into a smooth pace. Mile 1 went down in 6:50, not bad considering I wasted 10 seconds or so screwing with my shoe.

The second mile went well, I was running pretty steadily and kept picking up ground as I saw that I was passing folks and making up ground. Although at about 1.75, right after the point where we merge into the lake loop from transition I got passed by a guy that made it seem like I was out speed walking... it was crazy I had to look at my watch to make sure that I wasn't hallucinating about my pace... nope at that moment my watch had me a 6:40 pace. I thought what the heck, this guy must be starting his first lap and is going to blow up in a mile... no way is someone that far behind me is that fast of a runner I thought. Anyhow, I didn't try to stay with him, not that I could have even if I wanted to, and just continued to run my race. I ended up clocking a 6:48 for mile 2, so I was pretty much on pace and ready to picking it up for the final 1.1.

About half way though the second loop around the lake I started to get a diaphragm cramp... this is my "speed" nemesis, I say that because I get these about 1 out of every 4 short speed races I do (5k, 8K, etc.). I was at about 2.5 miles so I'd just tried to manage it the best I could... moved into a more upright posture, took deep breaths, and even poked into the cramp with my hand to apply pressure. It was working for the most part, but all I was able to do was maintain, there was no way I could kick to the finish especially with the last little hill up to the finish. Mile 3 came in at 6:44, and the final tenth of a mile was clocked in :37. I was in at 20:59, not bad, but given the super flat course I was really hoping to come in under 20:30 and had glimmers of hope that I might break 20:00.

The funny story of the run came at the end of the race when I saw the Usain Bolt run-alike and started chatting with him. Turns out he was seeded wrong and started the race almost 4 minutes after me. He ended up running an 18:38 run split, came in 2nd OA and finished about 4 1/2 minutes ahead of me.

Not much really, I pushed as hard as I could and don't think I could have done any better given that I got the cramp. My shoe issue cost me a few seconds so maybe double check my shoes when I set up transition, but other than that I executed well.

Walked around, grabbed some chow, and chatted with some folks. Waited for the awards ceremony and I called it a day.

Came in 6th overall and took 2nd in the Masters division so I was pretty happy with that.


The cluster on the swim, not knowing the bike course, and the cramp I got on the run. But the swim cluster happens... that's part of racing, the bike course was my own fault, and the cramp on the run is something I deal with from time to time... I've come to expect it.


Great race overall, I love the Setup Events races. They are well run and have a great "feel" to them.