Longboat Key Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This was by far the roughest swim of my 4 years in triathlon. They started all men over 40 and Clydes together. Right from the start there was a lot of body contact. Usually it thins out after the 100 yards or so but not today. I had 2 guys attempting to draft off of me, one to each side. The guy to my right was great, stayed just off my right leg and every couple of strokes would touch a foot and then back off. However, the guy to my left was an @ss. He was right on my shoulder and was constantly hitting me in the head, back and arm with every stroke. Several times I could not follow through because he was right on top of me. At least twice I put my hand on his shoulder to push him away. Once I even turned and yelled. Nothing seemed to work, he rode my left side all the way to the exit. The only positive, was I had a really good time for me, just over 7 minutes for 400 yards.

Not really sure, I felt I started in a good spot, swam a good route, Swam within my abilities but couldn't shake the hack to my left. Other than stopping, I'm not sure there was anything different I could have done.

I had the first rack on the way in from the water. Typical transition for me with the exception of not hitting the lap button on my Garmin until I was almost out of T1. Guess I was a little flustered after the swim. Good thing for timing mats.

Hit Lap when I exited the water.

I knew I was in a pretty good overall position coming out of the water so I pushed it a little more than normal on the bike, especially going into a 20+ mph headwind. While on the bike I try to keep track of where I'm at, how many have I passed, how many have passed me? At the 5.5 mile mark I was even. I had passed 5 riders and been passed by 5, that was until the paceline went by. 6 riders in 2 lines and drafting like it was the team time trial at the TdF. Riders already on the way back were yelling at them to break it up. Then just before the turn around the race official on the motorcycle busted them. I made the turn and took advantage of the tailwind all the way back to T2. 17-18 mph on the way out, 22-23 mph on the way back.

Not much, could have pressed a little harder on the way back, could have drank a little more on the way out, but otherwise this was a very good bike leg,.

It's such a good feeling to get back to transition and see a lot of empty racks. It also makes for a very quick T2.

Set up to the right side of my wheel. Its just one of those comfort things. I had to set up on the left and just didn't feel right during my shoe changes.

Really wasn't sure what to expect on this run. Having just come off of NOLA 70.3, finishing was not an issue, but I didn't know how fast I could go. Started out a little fast then settled into a good pace. I have my Garmin set to lap every half mile. Laps 2-6 were all negative splits. Very happy with that, but still not as fast as a few years ago. Getting passed by all of the "runners" is always a bit frustrating, especially when they are older than you by up to 30 years!

Continue to work on running. Would love to be back in the 8 min/mile range.

Grabbed a water and chocolate chip cookie then walked back along the route to cheer on some friends. Ended up cheering for a bunch of others as well. It's hard to see someone pushing towards the finish and not clap for them.


Guy hitting me on the swim, 20+ mph headwind on the bike, and being overweight and slow on the run. 2 out of the 3 I can't change, so I guess I have to work on dropping some weight and getting faster.


I love the venue for this event. Protected swim, great roads for the bike and run and plenty of volunteers. Really wish they would figure out the shirt issue, but other than that this is a great race.