Optimist Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I started off in the middle of the front row, maybe a towards the outside. I planned to go out nice and hard to pull away from the middle group and then settle in. Unfortunately, I didn't pull away from people like I'd hoped and I was fighting for position quite a bit more than expected. I was very close to people on both sides and had people bumping into me and cutting across in front of me quite a bit. I cut the turn around the boat nice and tight, but there was still a lot of congestion and it wasn't as fast as it could have been. After rounding the boat, I found a decent line that I thought was clear and took off. I started running into some really slow swimmers from earlier waves at this point and it was rough to keep focused and swim hard. With about 1/3 of the swim to go, I finally felt like it was clear and I finally was mentally focused enough to push hard and finish strong. I was out of the water just under 8 minutes, which is good. I knocked about 40 seconds off last year's time.

I need to focus a little harder and still push a LITTLE more to keep my momentum up. I let the traffic around me distract me.

A great T1. I felt like I took too long with the socks and I was going to be slower than last year, but I was actually faster. The second sock went on much smoother than the first. I still can't bring myself to go without socks, but I hope to get there eventually. I was afraid the pavement was going to be painful on my feet, but during the race, I didn't notice it at all.

Can't think of anything here. T1 went very well.

I was really nervous about my biking ability coming into this race. I didn't feel like I had the speed that I wanted to have based on training rides. I started off pushing hard and kept pushing myself knowing that I'd be upset later if I didn't leave it all on the course. I started off a little slower than I wanted to be, but I was able to push up the hills fairly strong. Someone passed me just a mile or so into the ride. He pulled farther away on the flats and downhills, but I would gain some back on him every time we hit an uphill. Traffic wasn't bad other than one car that passed me just before the turn around, then got stuck behind a slower cyclist. They were moving slow enough that I managed to pass them on the right with no problems. I mad the turn around turns nicely without losing too much speed and really started to motor on the way back. I didn't get a chance to check my speed or time at the turn around, but I'm fairly certain I averaged much higher on the way back in. I was having a tough time maintaining 22-23 on the flat ground on the way out, but felt like I was pushing out to 25+ on the way back fairly easily. I had good cornering without losing much speed all the way in, and stood up after the last turn to try and get the legs and hips stretched out. I dropped about 20 seconds off my time from last year, and I was ecstatic with that. Just cleared 23 mph. I downed my aero bottle and finished it off with just a mile or so to go. I drank about 1/2-2/3 of a 22 oz bottle with concentrated Gatorade in it. Hydration was just about perfect.

Can't think of anything here.

As soon as I got off the bike, my calves were starting to cramp up, but they stretched out a little and didn't completely lock up on me. The right shoe went on very smoothly, but my hand slipped and the heel of my left foot caught the back of the shoe when I stepped down. This cost me a few seconds, but I got it fixed quickly and headed out with my race number in hand.

Maybe focus just a touch harder to slip shoes on smoother.

My calves were still borderline cramping for the first 1/4-1/2 mile and I watched a few people pull away from me. This was a little discouraging, but I kept trying to push hard though, knowing that it was only 3.5 miles to the finish. My breathing was very rapid, but again, I kept focused on the fact that it was a race and it's supposed to hurt. I struggled to push up the little hills on the trail in the first mile. My first mile split was right around 6:30. I took water and mile 1, drank a tiny sip and poured the rest down my head/back to try and manage body heat. I was a little more "relaxed" in the second mile which allowed me to push harder. I hit 1.5 miles closer to a 6:10 pace and finished the second mile very close to 6 flat. This was a great boost and it gave me the energy to push up each of the small rollers in the woods/trail. I felt nice and strong, even though I was quite exhausted. I came out of the woods and pushed really strong up "the hill" about 90% of the way. The last 10% was a struggle and I fell off pace just a touch. After a few deeper breaths, I dug deep and got back into pace to finish strong. The steep downhill wasn't horrible on my legs like I remember it being last year. After rounding the last corner, it's always nice to see so many people cheering on the sides of the road and that just helped fuel me to finish as strong as possible. Even though I felt like my legs weren't conditioned to push the kind of speed that I managed, I somehow managed to make it happen with determination and pain tolerance :-) I dropped 36 seconds off my run split from last year to give a 6:21/mile run pace. I'm really hoping I can get below 6:00 pace in a race this year.

I can't imagine improving on this performance with the exception of possibly pushing a little harder in the first mile.

Grapped a cup of water, Gatorade, a handful of orange wedges, and a couple bananas while walking around to allow my heart rate to come down. Walked around for a little while cheering people on as they came in, then got food and chowed down.


I can't really complain about much with this race. The only thing I could pick at is not staying focused on my form during the swim, and the issue of my calves cramping coming off the bike.


Overall, the race itself was run excellent and on-time. The post-race awards ceremony was a little rough this year.

I took 1:40 off my time from last year, and was just hoping to take off 45 seconds and be under 1:10. I was really nervous about my bike and run legs (no pun intended), but in the end, I am extremely happy with my race performance. Very few/minor mistakes made during this race that only cost me mere seconds. I'm really hoping to focus on some speed work for the bike and run to see how much I can really push myself in a couple months at Syracuse.