Patanella's FLAT as a PANCAKE Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I started in the front and towards the left with the buoy line straight ahead. The strategy was to go out strong for the first 50 and then get into a pace. This should have allowed me to draft some other swimmers. I got off strong but was never able to draft off anyone. Either everyone faster was already gone and it appears everyone else was swimming to the right. I know I was swimming pretty straight because I was swimming at each buoy. Although I could not draft I had a pretty traffic free swim which is always nice.

There was some traffic at the last and only turn buoy.

The swim time included a 100 meter run up on the beach before hitting the mats. My watch time for the actual swim said 6:30 (either way it is a good swim for me).

Not much.

I had a little trouble finding my bike spot and was breathing heavy from the swim. Was able to get off the suit OK and then ready to run.

I was really hammering this ride. I started in high gear on the first loop and then felt strong enough to shift into a higher gear for the 2nd & 3rd loops. Since the course was totally flat I did not have to shift again until the end so I could spin a bit to get feet out of shoes.

Not much

I had a little problem with getting my right shoe on. For some reason when I quickly put on my right racing flat my right pinkie toe (which is my bad toe) seems to get jammed. It was hurting a bit on the run.

Not much.

I felt good on the run and was passing many people from wave ahead of me. I was caught by several very speedy 20 somethings from the wave behind me. Within last 1/4 mile a person in my age group passed me. I then got behind him and ran with him for a bit and then passed him again (that was a big mistake).

He quickly blew past me and never saw him again. My best chance to have beaten him was to draft him to finish and hope I could take him in a sprint. He ran a sub 19:00 and had the fastest run split for age group. It did not matter much since we finished 4 & 5 anyway.

Drank some water and hung out with friends. Did not want to wait around for pancakes and awards.

Rode the 4 miles back to ferry.


I had very low expectations for this race but it was better than expected. A perfect weather day with a calm bay did not hurt either. The race director has a lot of great positive energy.