Caveman Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

The two girls who ended up finishing first and third for the women were right in front of me in line. That was cool. The race director did a much better job of keeping everyone in line and the swim was great. I didn't catch either of the girls in front of me. We were very close on our swim time. I was passed by one guy and only passed about 3-4 people in the last 75 yards. Most of the time I had clean water and couldn't have been happier. This is the third time I have done this race and this was the fastest swim for me yet.

Nothing much. I tried to get on the tail of the guy who passed me but couldn't stay with him. I could have flip turned but never did because I kept thinking a people pile was on the way.

It wasn't too far from the pool to my bike. The bike out was close to my rack. I had a little trouble getting into my shoes for some reason. I forgot to put on my race belt. More on that later. I left a bike jacket in transition, in case it felt too cold. I decided to leave it there and get moving. I'm not sure what I did wrong to have a slower than normal time other than struggling with my shoes. Strange. All the guys in front of me were about 10 seconds faster so maybe it was fine.

I practiced with my running shoes but did not with my bike shoes. Should have done that.

I have only been doing this for two years and seriously for about 1 year. The bike is probably my biggest struggle. My running has come a long way but my bike is improving at a slower pace. I have never had a race where my average speed was over 20mph. I did at this race. They changed the route so what was a 13 mile race was 14.17 on my garmin. The field was spread out for the first lap and I was making good time. I was easily able to hold my aero position. It was cold but I was fast for me. I slowed down slightly to eat my first honey stinger and some woman passed me. I put my wrapper in my pocket on my tri top and cranked it up again. I passed her. No big deal. She passed me right back and then slowed down. Ok, I passed her back and she started yelling at me with some sailor like language and said something about can't stand being passed by a girl. Please, I learned a long time ago there are plenty of girls who are way faster than me. I never said a word and just kept moving. I finally dropped her and did not have an incident the rest of the way. I have never had anyone do that to me in a race. Unbelievable. The second lap was busier since more people were coming on to the course. I had a few instances where the road was busy and had to slow a few times. No big deal though. I hammered it out as best I could. Running has been my strength so I figured to be fine there. According to my watch, I knew my time was really good. I kept thinking I need to get off this thing and get on my feet. I am far more confident there. In the end, by real race distance, I eclipsed the 20mph ceiling. The race results on line post against 13 miles which is inaccurate. I recognize some of the faster guys in my group and I know there are easily 22-24 guys and there times were low. I am happy with the end result on the bike.

Try not to get yelled at. I'm not exactly sure what happened or why it happened. I never let it get to me and never said a word. I just focused on what I was doing and did that.

I got off the bike and headed to my rack. I pulled my feet out of my shoes prior to the dismount line. For some reason, I had a problem getting my feet in my running shoes. I guess I should have put some body glide in there. My bike jacket that I didn't put on got tossed on top of my race belt. I took off out of transition and after about 10 seconds, I realized it was missing. Damn, I went back to get it. This cost me 15-20 seconds easy. That was a real bummer. However, it would not have been a factor in my placement when it was said and done. It was irritating though.

Don't forget the race belt and put body glide in my shoes.

I started out fast and most of the first mile was down hill. My first mile was about 7:30. The first half of the second mile was mostly a slow up hill climb to the turnaround. I missed the 2 mile marker which messed up my timing on when to pick up the pace. I had a cup of water at two aid stations and that was it. Never stopped at all. I could have finished a little faster if I knew how close I was to the end. The third mile was almost an 8 minute mile which is not up to standard for me right now. However, the majority of the third mile was up hill. The course was long per my garmin. I had it at 3.2 miles. My garmin average was 7:45 and the results have me around 7:55. Felt really strong on the run and no complaints. It's a new course so I wasn't real familiar with it. I could do this faster. This may have been a PR for me in a sprint. I'm not sure.

I need to be more aware of the course and distance. I messed up the management of my run not knowing where I was for the second half.

My trail running ultra buddies rolled up to the race to see me finish. That was cool having someone there to see me. Hung around with them for awhile until they took off. Changed into some dry clothes. Since I parked next to transition, I couldn't leave until the last biker finished their leg of the race. Waited on some results. I wanted to finish in the top 10 for my age group. That was the goal. I finished 9th so mission accomplished.


Better decision making on the run and getting into my shoes.


Kudos on fixing the swim situation. Much improved so shout out to the people who got this under control. This was going to be my last time doing this race if it didn't get fixed. I like the new run route. I'll be back again. Much improved from last year.