Catfish Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Waded out about chest deep trying to figure out a good starting spot not in the way of the 'fishes' but not in the back, either. Thought it was a good spot until the word "GO!" was yelled and I found myself stuck behind numerous ladies doing the breaststroke and backstroke. Hmm, not quite how I wanted to start! I semi-patiently waited for them to start doing freestyle or moving faster but it didn't happen so I turned right and arced way out around them. Sure it cost time but it got me in clean water.

I was far enough from the shore (intentionally) to stay in deeper water so I could swim. Others were walking, but not too many. My plan worked well until I went under the second bridge and came upon a little sandbar with shallow water around it. It broke up my rhythm navigating through the shallows and I lightly kicked a rock but I soon found deeper water again, only to have it quickly turn shallow the rest of the way to the swim exit. The rocks and bottom were close enough that I couldn't take a full, normal stroke without hitting, so I kinda float-paddled the rest of the way.

24/54 women

Pick a better starting position farther out and not behind people, but not the front row, either.

Ran up the ramp to find my cheering section yelling and taking pics. I threw my lovely pink bubble gum cap at LT who was snapping pics with her phone. She got a nice pic of it mid-flight! Ran to my spot, put sunglasses and helmet on, wiped my feet with my hand (forgot my little towel at home) to remove gravel and little stones, put my race belt with my number on, grabbed Rico and headed out. For some reason I was having trouble getting my right foot clipped in, so I eventually took off with my shoe half-arsed on top of the pedal and got locked in down the road a bit.

35/178 OA, 24/54 women, 2/11 AG

Get into my pedals faster. Struggled for some reason.

I realized at some point on the bike that I'm lucky this isn't a USAT race - I threw my swim cap at LT, which is surely an abandonment or littering or some sort of penalty. Thankfully I don't think such rules apply at this race.

Had a goal for myself to hit 20 mph average on the bike. Didn't make that goal, and I had no one to blame but myself. Real reason: I didn't check my watch to gauge my speed and was using feel and the environment to determine my effort. Other contributing factors: I was in the 3rd of 3 waves, so I was passing a fair amount of folks and was only passed once in the first half of the race by a very fast looking woman, so it seemed I was going fast. I should've known by the relative comfort level of my breathing and legs that I wasn't pushing hard enough. I told myself I felt more comfortable because I was riding more and in better shape than previous years.

Throughout the entire bike I kept passing people and not checking my watch. Hit a fair-sized pothole and feared flying off or flatting, neither of which happened, thankfully. The road was really bad at the highway interchange, with many holes and cracks. With maybe 1/4 of the bike left, I got passed by a guy who I eventually re-passed.

Only drank 2x, I think, of my Infinit solution, once at the turnaround and another time during the return. Tried to thank all the cops manning the intersections and the few volunteers that were out there, too.

I guess I let up on the speed too much coming off the bridge to go back into the parking lot and transition area because I got passed by a handful of guys here. I had also stopped pedaling in order to get my feet out of my shoes. In hindsight I'm thinking I should do that up on the bridge before making the turn to the lot. Saw LT, JD and E cheering me on up on the bridge.

11/54 women

My Garmin recorded 14 miles, not 14.5 for the bike, which was only a 19.06 mph average, dang!

Ride faster, make myself be uncomfortable. Monitor speed with my watch and not by feel as much. I'm upset with myself for not making my goal, or at least being closer to it.

Legs didn't feel quite supportive when I went to dismount, so I took it easy as not to end up in a heap. They weren't weak, just not ready to be standing, I think. Carefully got off the bike and ran it to my spot, threw my sneaks on sockless (I had biked sockless, too), grabbed my hat and took off.

77/178 OA, 17/54 women, 4/11 AG

Smoother, faster dismount.

Of course I got passed by sooo many of the people I recall passing on the bike but I tried not to let it get to me. I stayed very focused on where/how I was stepping because the concrete path was more chopped up and holey than I remembered. Either that or my tumble from a few weeks back was still very fresh in my mind and I didn't want a repeat! I didn't walk ANY of the inclines up to the bridges or the park, only walked a tiny bit at the turnaround while I drank water. Ran it in to the finish as strong as I could to the cheers of E, LT and JD but I swear someone was pulling the finish mat farther away as I neared!

Even though this was a pretty decent run for me, it shows running is definitely my weakest discipline. I was fairly proud of my effort up until I looked at the overall results and saw how much my time really sucked. Oh well, I need to remember to compare me to me and not everyone else, but that's tough sometimes. This was my fastest time yet on this course, even the year it was short!

35/54 women

I guess run faster, although at the time I was pleased with my time/effort. Losing some weight might help.

Stood with my hands on my knees to catch my breath for a bit, then grabbed a water and walked back to find my friends. Snagged 2 pieces of yummy watermelon. Headed back to the car to change out of my wet gear before I got river rot, then went to look at the results to see if it was worth sticking around. Nope, too many fast 40-44 females this year for me to be in any of the top spots.


Being old and 'sturdy' and not monitoring my effort on the bike better. Also not picking a good starting spot on the swim.


I like this race because it is fairly close to home and the course is nice along the river. It's very low key, in some ways a little too low key, like transition. Anyone, and I do mean anyone (even multiple family members/friends per racer) is free to go in and out of transition before and after the race, there is no security or people watching or verifying equipment in/out. Yeah, most people are trustworthy but there's always a few bad apples.