Saratoga Splash Open Water Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I swam 300 yards, in my wetsuit in the pool yesterday. I held a 5:44 overall (1:55/100 yds). My time today was DOUBLE that. Notice my course comments. This course was DEFINATELY quite a bit longer than advertised. I swam well, passed far more people than passed me. I even was one of those swim over the top of a couple, particularly at the start. Overall though wasn't too bad. Was expecting the congestion to be much worse than it was.

They had us start out of the water at the base of the ramp. Unfortunately, in addition to that confusion, no one could hear the starters whistle (2 waves -- all men - then all women) so everyone was standing there waiting -- with the clock running (wasn't long 15 seconds or so) but we finally got underway. I purposely started well to the back of the pack, as this was my first OWS and wanted to avoid much of the clawing. Ramp was a little slick in places so that made the run into the water slow, but not bad. I got into the water and swam fairly hard at first. Probably harder than I should have, but felt good. My sighting was pretty good until I got to the bouy. Had not much trouble rounding it, but didn't sight as well on the way back in than I did going out. I actually one time got way to the side of the channel and hit some rocks. Slowed me for a few seconds, but then I was on my way again. Overall, aside from the distance issue, which I didn't realize were an issue at the time, I was fairly pleased with my very first open water swim race. Run from the exit of the swim to T1 was about 50 or 60 yards, so that also added a little time.

Be more agressive entering the water. Don't be afraid of the traffic, but pan to swim a little wide at the first. Focus on maintaining form and breathing. I could have swum better had I done that. Work on sighting. Relax and just swim. I am a capable swimmer (slow but capable) and so I need to remember the things Randy has taught me!

Not a bad transition, although the time seems VERY short to my recollection. I'd figured I'd been about 3 minutes or so. This was the first time that I've had to lose a wetsuit, so I expected this transition to be slower than the times reflect.

I've still not learned to put the bike shoes in the clips and then put them on while I'm rolling. That would save me time. I'm afraid though that might mean a new pair of Bike shoes becasue these are tough to get on my feet, even sitting still.

Learn to put shoes on while on bike

Probably my best portion of todays race. I felt really good throughout this portion of the race. Pushed pretty hard, and definately gave my best to the ride today. I really enjoyed the bike today. Passed at least 15 people, because my rank climbed 15 spots over the course of the ride. I'm sure I probably passed more. I did get passed a few times, but overall, I again passed more that got passed, or at least that's what I remember.

Probably try to push a bit harder on the hilly portions to maintain speed. Don't be afraid to get going fast. I was more comfortable going faster today than on other races, but need to let myself go more!

This transition went really easily. Did a lot better here than this time, than other races. Still need to get me some YANKZ. That would shave at least 15 seconds.

Get YANKZ. I've been talking about doing that for 3 races now. Better get it done.

This was not a good run for me today. I think with just getting over this cold I've had, by the time I got to the run, my tank was approaching empty. As usual, I didn't hydrate or take gels as nearly as well as I should (like no gels at all, only 1 small glass of water). The sun was also beating down pretty hard at this point, and the temps started rising pretty quickly. I've been running 7:30-7:50 5k's lately in my bricks, so I wasn't at all pleased with this run, other than I finished it. Much too big of pace dropoff here today, even though I still passed several people, I got passed on the run today more than I have in the past couple of races. I think most of it was the remanants of my cold though.

Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate. I need to do this better.

Walked it off, tried to keep from puking. Waited for my wife to come in, and becuase she was way behind me ( due to time trial start for the pool swim, plus being much slower than I) I decided to start to walk the course backward and come in with her. She, by her own words, called this a swim/bike/walk. So I walked about a mile of it in with her! Was great.


Recovering from my cold.


This is a good race. Actually quite well organized for a club sponsored event. (No professional race management company). Need to have a little better sound system to make it easier to hear the start of the swim. or have the sound system closer to the start line.

My main suggestion would be to make sure that they have the swim course better measured. I realize it's difficult to do that, but this was significantly longer than advertised. I'm not a fast swimmer, but to have my time DOUBLE a recent swim of comparable distance doesn't make sense. I expected to be somewhat slower, but 3:43/100 yards - NOT.
I'll do this race again. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my very best performance.

I was VERY impressed with the volunteers who did not leave their posts, or take them down until AFTER the last participant passed. That last participant was my wife, and everyone was SO supportive. High marks for them on that!

As for my wife. I couldn't be MORE PROUD of her! She did the whole thing today, even though she had caught the cold I had last week, and was not feeling all that good. But she beat her goal time of 2:30 with a 2:21! Was a somewhat emotional experience for me to see her come running into the finish line, with the crowd cheering for her as she was DFL. But to me DFL means DARN FINE LADY! The best part is -- even with coming in last she still has something I don't! Age Group Hardware ( well ribbon in this case). She took 3rd in her AG! She's not letting me live that down! :)
I'm really proud of her accomplishment.