Big Shark New Town Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Pretty good swim. First leg felt a bit longer than I was expecting, but after that perspective check the rest went quite smooth. Once the sun got over the houses sighting on the front of the course got a little tough, but nothing unmanagable. Kept a good pace, and only a hint of a foot cramp about halfway through. Passed quite a few people, only got passed by maybe five or so.

Maybe get some tinted goggles for this race.

Time includes 50-ish yard run from swim exit into transition area.

Small amount of trouble getting my shirt on (took two tries). Yankz worked like a charm. Need to get a tri top.

Happy with how this went overall. Still can be faster, but improvements are coming. Course couldn't possibly be any flatter, so just find the right gear, grab the drops, and let 'er fly. I had one bottle full of Powerade for drinking and one with water to dump on my head. I stuck with that plan until it was obvious that 25oz of Powerade wasn't going to be enough fluids on this ride, then started drinking what was left of the water as well. That ran out with probably 3 miles to go.

For the pacing, I just need to log some more miles. Pace up significantly from last month's tri (18 vs. 16 mph). Probably need to get a fit too...hands and rear are not comfortable on rides of this distance.

For the hydration, maybe get another of the larger water bottles? Tough to fight against mother nature.

Pretty good changeover, really. Not much more I can do here except hustle more.

Not much, this one's good for now.

Here's where everything fell apart. Started out well and felt pretty good. Body temp was staying under control, given the circumstances. Pace was solid. After about 2/3 of a mile I started to feel cramping in my left hammy. Ugh! Tried walking, tried to stop and stretch, it just wouldn't go away so I tried to jog it out and that just made things worse (no shocker there). First water station grabbed two cups and downed them and continued as quick of a walk as I could. Leg loosened up; I started running again. Leg cramped back up. Walked all the way to the second water station (at completion of lap #1) and grabbed two waters to drink, whatever other thing they had there, and dumped two waters on my head. That seemed to do the trick, so I was off running again. Until my other hammy cramped up - WTF?? Walk/jog some more, kept on trying to stretch it out but no joy. 3rd water station, grabbed much more water, tried to jog some more. Chatted with a guy on Lap #1 with a bum knee who was walking. Got towards the finish line and decided to let loose and what happened happened. Leg actually stayed loose and I finished strong the last few hundred yards.

Thank you to all the nice residents who were out there with hoses and sprinklers! It was a scorcher out there and that helped greatly!

Really could have used one more water station on the route, but you'd figure one every mile would be enough as a RD. Figure out some way to hydrate better to avoid the cramping.

I needed food in a major way. Found some, walked around a bit to try and stay loose. Watched Nate and Michelle finish. Turns out Nate almost caught me on that run, but my last little burst was enough to keep him behind me. Michelle ran a great first tri!


Cramping.


Best description of how this race is it was run...sufficiently. Compared to my only other race (QC Triathlon), it felt a bit disorganized. In reality it wasn't, and everything went off just fine, but you didn't have the before-race feeling of knowing exactly what was about to go down. Worked just fine for the folks who had done it before, but for the first-timers it can be a bit discouraging. The volunteers were doing a fine job and kudos to them for being out there on such a hot day!

The only other complaint I have on this race is where the heck does my entry go??? Pretty much the same price as the QC Tri, but all I have to show for this one is the shirt. No finishers anything, not a whole lot on the raffle side of things (they did have two wetsuits, but everything else was pretty minor). The big raffle item (pair of Zipps) you had to purchase a special raffle ticket for. In comparison, QC Tri you got race bag, a shirt, raffles for EVERYTHING they had, plus the post-race grub was just as good. Oh, and that one has a closed course for biking. They gave finishers towels with the logo embroidered on them (not a big thing, but something > nothing). They also had actual race temp-tattoos instead of just sharpies. Names were on the bibs as well. I'm not saying most of these things are required/necessary (they aren't), but at least there I could visually see what the entry was going towards.

Given the heat (nothing to be done about that) and the perceived lack of value in this race, I think the only way I'll end up doing it next year will be if my stepson wants to run the kids version on Saturday.