Secret City Triathlon - Triathlon

First 2 lengths were very crowded and slow. Just nowhere to go. I started all the way to the left hoping to stay out of the way of the fast ones but be able to go around the really slow ones. There is a wade-in area all the way down the left side, and my left hand scraped the bottom a few times! It was more crowded than Springbrook, but fortunately not as rough. There was a little bit of contact, but it didn't have the pushing/shoving/scratching/clawing feel that Springbrook did, more like what I've typically experienced in open-water wave starts. At least in open water you can spread out a little bit, here you didn't really have anywhere to go. I stopped a couple times to stand up and look for an opening, but no dice, so I just plodded along for a while. It opened up a little bit on the second length, then on the third I got around the last guy that I was kind of grouped with. From there on I just cruised on in, and had plenty left in the tank to sprint around a few people heading to transition.

The time included a pretty long run to the far end of transition before hitting the mat.

I would like to have been able to swim freely the first 200, but I don't think that's going to happen with this setup. I might have been able to start a little quicker, but didn't want to burn out early and struggle. I think I did a pretty good job overall.

Looks like I was fastest in the field for T1. When I crossed the mat with the bike leaving transition I was looking for the "bike mount" sign and there wasn't one, so I was looking around trying to figure out what to do. I yelled to one of the volunteers asking where to mount and they said nothing, then I saw someone else mounting right outside of transition, so apparently we could mount as soon as we crossed the mat. I lost a little time there, but didn't want to mount early and get a penalty. Oh well. Because of the confusion I was almost stopped by the time I mounted, so it was a little harder than normal getting going, but I passed a couple guys almost immediately who had passed me during my confusion.

Pay a little bit more attention to the mount area before the race. I just assumed there would be a mount area, because there is ALWAYS a mount area!

According to the map it was slightly downhill to the turnaround, then slightly uphill the way back. I was hoping to hit the turnaround averaging around 22, then if I could keep it above 18 on the way back I would average 20+. I hit the turnaround at 22.2, and didn't lose too much on the way back. The last time I looked at my speedometer I was at 21.7 with less than a mile left. Finishing around 21.5 was better than I thought I would be able to do, and I felt like I went about as hard as I could and still leave some left for the run. I got passed by a couple guys on nice tri bikes, and passed a bunch of other people, including several that started in the wave ahead of me in the pool.

Nothing, other than getting off to a better start by knowing where to mount the bike. I'm happy with the progress I've made on the bike this year, and feel like I can keep improving a little bit at a time.

I decided to use socks for this run, so I had them pre-rolled and ready to go. No issues getting the bike racked, helmet off, socks/shoes on, grab the belt and go. I lost a few seconds putting on socks, but felt like it was worth it.

try to go a little bit faster every time.

I had hoped to do 26 min, which would be an 8 min mile pace. Didn't quite make it. The run is such a struggle for me. I say that every time, but it's true every time. I ran the whole way, but just can't force myself to pick up the pace a little bit. I got some tips afterward from Josh Wade about how interval training helped him, so I'm going to try that some.

I've got to get better at the run. I really don't feel like I'm overdoing the bike, but the run is a mental battle. I've never been a good distance runner though, and never enjoyed it. Fast around the bases? Extremely! Fast up and down the court? Youbetcha! Fast for a mile? Nope. Fast for 3 miles? Don't even think about it!

I've got to find a way, mentally and physically, to get past that.

Found Wendy and got her thoughts. Saw Jeff Wade finish shortly after I did and knew he beat me since he started 3 minutes behind me. Talked to Jeff and Josh for a while about bikes, helmets, running, etc. They are both really good, and great guys as well. Jeff won his age group (M 55-59) and was 11th overall. Josh was 3rd overall.

I ended up 2nd in my age group, and beat my goal time by almost a minute. I was really happy with that.


The traffic in the pool
Confusion about the bike mount
Running ability


I enjoyed this race and plan to do it again next year. Got to keep improving!