Catfish Sprint - TriathlonSprint

The river was VERY shallow with the ongoing heat wave/drought. A few places I couldn't even extend my arm the whole way down in a normal stroke and bottom was always in sight. Many people walked, yes walked the swim or did a hybrid swim/walk. I swam the entire distance and vowed to myself to come out ahead of the walkers but I have no idea if I succeeded for sure! Lots of sea(river?)weed, and I mean lots, to the point that it was catching in my timing strap and frequently getting caught in my hands/feet/arms and occasionally face.

Per my fast, very swim experienced, fishy friend I started 'out' pretty far so I wouldn't have to fight the current closer to shore going around the curve of the island.

Dodging the walkers and swim/walkers was challenging at times.

Even though my swim was slower than last year's time, I felt better about it and there really are so many variables that could affect time: current, water depth, wind. I was pretty discouraged not having beat my swim time from last year, but I think the longer time may have had to do with my starting position. See 'what would you do differently'

Not much, other than start cutting back closer to the buoys after clearing the curve of the island. I think I stayed out too far too long and possibly added time/distance unnecessarily.

Decent T1, 94th place. Opted to try biking sans socks for the first time.

Nothing, I'm pretty pleased with time.

Fairly uneventful (for me) ride. Passed quite a few folks, didn't get passed too much. Saw a girl who possibly wrecked, but she looked like she was laughing, and another rider had already stopped so I kept going since she didn't seem to be injured.

Should have pushed just a bit harder. Also should've tried to stay with the guy that came out of transition just behind me, passing me before we went up to the bridge who was on Rico's brother, a fellow P1!

Put on the socks I didn't wear on the bike.
194th place

Nothing I can think of.

Yup, I still stink at running. But I ran more than I did last year, so I'm kinda OK with that. Last year I felt the course was short based on my time. I was deeply disappointed to not see last year's turnaround point because that meant 1)they probably realized last year was short and were trying to make the distance more accurate 2)this now means I have to run a little farther, LOL!! Oh well, I survived. :)

I raced at the very end because there were some women right behind me trying to pass me, which I didn't want to happen. I got passed at the end last year which cost me an AG position and I didn't want a repeat. There was another girl right ahead of me who I thought had a '37' (it was a '27') on her leg so on one hand I wanted to pass her but on the other hand I didn't want to be a jerk and pass her at the line for bragging rights over some lower placement. So I just managed to stave off the women behind me (turns out they were part of the du and not the tri but neither they nor I knew that) and I also didn't pass the woman in front of me but crossed pretty much right with her.

Oh, and there was this awesome volunteer at the top of the hill we go up to get up to the bridge on the island side. She was cheering on the runners, yelling, "Not much farther, you are almost done!" I said to her, "I wish I were seeing you for the second time instead of the first." She replied with something nice and enthusiastic that I can't quite remember. Bless her heart, when she did see me coming back across the bridge on the return trip she started REALLY yelling and cheering so loudly. So cool, and impressive that she remembered me (although I did have a fairly unique top on, easy to pick out)!!!

Just keep running more.

Cup of Gatorade, bottle of water. Spent quite a lot of time trying to use the bottle as an ice pack of sorts, pressing it against my face/neck/back/chest to cool myself down.


Didn't push harder on the bike out of fear of blowing out my legs for the run. Run was slow because I am slow and need to run more to get faster. Also I need to continue losing weight to make it easier to go faster. Already discussed swim time issue.

Should have put Body Glide on. When I got home and in the shower, I discovered that I had a blister on my collarbone from my tri top!! Ouchie! Oh, and I also got the beginning of a big blister on my left foot from biking without socks as well as knocked the skin off my right 2nd toe and another little blister on my right 4th toe. Oops.


Lots of things I do like about this race (location being one of them), just a few I don't. Don't like the complete lack of athlete verification in transition. Anyone could take anything. They don't check to make sure you are a participant nor do they check to make sure what you are taking out is yours. The other thing is the long delay for awards (not that I win any, but my friends do). They have a kids' race right after the last adult biker is off the course and they wait until the kids' race is over to do awards and door prizes. Basically everyone is gone save most of the award winners and their family or friends. Not sure how they could fix the logistics of this.