Atlantic City Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon

So 45 degrees is cool anyways. It is COLD when you are just wearing a tri suit bottom. They had Paratriathlete Regional Championships which was so inspiring. I forgot about the cold and realized if they could do it, I have no reason to complain. This was my first time trial race and I ended up getting into the 2nd wave. I wanted to get into the first wave, but I was the 2nd person that missed out on it. Got into the 2nd wave and was so surprised when they said we could start at any time.

Jumped in great and the water felt like a warm bath. Took off into calm waters. Started passing back end of the 1st wave about half way down before the turnaround. A little zig zagging to get to the buoys.

I need to work on the whole "swimming straight in the OWS". I tend to find myself going slightly off course. Next TT start, I will try to get into the first wave and just mentally prep before jumping in.

Took off from the swim and ripped towards the bike. I was sure to triple check where my bike was -- a lot different finding your bike when there is 1300 bikes there. Used baby powder in the socks and shoes for the first time and it worked great. Took some extra time to try to dry off my upper body to get my top on and try to minimize being soaked in the cold temps. Took off running with the bike -- I'm a little awkward while pushing it so I just picked it up and ran.

I need a tri top that is easier to get on or get one that I can wear in the water. Wouldn't change much else. Just need to work on the steps.

The biking had a slower caution area to start and finish that crossed some soft gravel and sand on a curve. Started biking and BURRR, it was chilly. But focused on getting down and just pushing as hard as I could. Within about 10 minutes I got used to it so my hands and nose were pretty numb, but it was fine. Had a rider that I caught up to and raced near for nearly the entire way. we have no flat riding where we are, so it felt so good to push it on some open flat road and I was amazed how fast it was.

coming into the caution area, I took the sand turn too quickly and nearly slid out. Thankfully I was able to get my foot out of the clip to save the fall and my pride.

Keep practicing on my bike. Huge improvements over the season.

Ran to rack my bike and was able to get my shoes off relatively easy. Putting on my running shoes proved to be more difficult because I could not fell my hands nor my feet. First race with my new tri-belt. What a wonderful accessory!

Not much. I want to work on getting out of my shoes while on the bike for next year. I imagine this is made easier with velcro straps.

Felt good on the run. It was a little weird running and not being able to feel my feet. The brick workouts I have been doing really paid off. Took it out strong in about 5:50. The boardwalk was an awesome place to do the run because you could see the people ahead of you and use them as inspiration. I saw the guys ahead of me on the return and saw that there was a shot at catching them, so I kept cranking it. Caught the one guy and started to go after the guy ahead of him. With about a a third of a mile to go, he was about 15 seconds ahead of me.

The runners just heading out were encouraging me telling me I could catch him so I figured might as well go for it and just put the hammer down. We came down the shoot flying and he had enough of a kick to keep me at bay. Awesome finish though.

Not much, I just have to work on pushing the run a little more in the middle.

Drank a beer! I figured it was 8:30 and I had been up for 5 hours, it was pretty much the equivalent of noon! Walking around and some stretching. Ate and relaxed.


Not much really -- I really felt like I gave it my all (or close to it). Super excited about the improvement in just 2.5 months since I started biking, running, and swimming.

I need to discover what my ceiling is and how hard I can go because I'm not sure I've discovered that. I'm hoping next year to make the jump to Olympic and still remain competitive. Looking forward to putting some time in through the winter focusing on technique on all events and trying to "master" the bike.

One day I'll get a TT bike, but I plan on sticking with the road bike for another year.

Super thrilled with this year's progress.

FYI -- I'm hooked!


Delmo Sports puts on an amazing event. So organized, super helpful staff, nice spread. Tons of support in the water, tons of support on the course. Race director constantly kept updates coming before the race and getting everyone excited.

I can't say enough about the group -- absolutely AMAZING!