Sugar River Triathlon - Triathlon

The new racers were nervous, but in the warm-up I found the lake was only waist deep at the turn buoy, and that was as far out as it got. Start was mixed with the Elite wave, plus clydes & athenas. Can work ok, but start is more interesting as some of the clydes were obviously not out of shape swimmers and didn't know how to seed themselves. Worked out by the buoy.

Swam ok, but felt a little slow. Did enjoy being out there more than I have in other races. Could actually feel the water and what I was doing again. No idea on placing and just hoped I came out ahead of my wetsuit wearing brother.

Horrendously slow because an earplug was stuck. Took the time to get it out as I didn't want to see it get worse. Race really didn't matter anyway. Brother took a sec to look and couldn't get it either. All the sudden it came and finished up here.

Got out and saw way more people than I'd like ahead for such a small race, but happens with the putrid T1. Tucked into aero and kept the power on as the early going was quite flat. A little hill at the end of the south leg that was steeper than expected near the top. Another gear would have been nice there. Fog was still hanging around in spots and had to slow more for the first turn. Couldn't pick out all the details.

Onto the westbound leg on the south side, still not seeing my brother so figured he was moving well. Caught up to him part way through this one. Hills late on this part were easier than expected. Though harder to see exactly where the corner was after the downhill flattened out.

Northbound west side had the majority of the hills. Pushed well here, but began to get sick. Actually threw up at one point. Another gear would have been nice in here as well. Pushed it some as I knew the next section was mostly a long downhill.

And the north side definitely was very fast. Over 40 again on the fastest part, and mapped out doing a 5k section in 6:13 (29.6 mph average). Came up to transition not quite sure how I was feeling. Stomach was still off but legs didn't seem any worse than other events I've run well in.

Still ended up with the fastest bike split on 312 AP / 320 NP.

Just went steady through T1, hoping the lack of effort put out would help calm my stomach. Too many bikes in here with ~5. Another guy came in just behind me and slipped ahead going out to the run.

Felt awful going out on the run. Wasn't sure I really wanted to do it. Actually took several walk breaks as stomach was really upset. Slight improvement after the first mile, but needed another break at the turn-around. At this point even Cagle caught up and saw my brother not too far behind. Things cleared up enough to keep running at this point and just took it slow. Kept on improving and able to push the pace into mid 6's. Held there until near the finish and picked it up some more so no one would come sneaking around, but had put a decent sized gap into the few behind me.

Sister was having a great race as she saw me coming in just as she was starting the run. Really excited not seeing anyone ahead of me, but didn't realize there were like 6 guys a few minutes before she'd missed.

Not get sick on the bike.

I finished well and caught my breath while the others came in. Brother slipped ahead of Cagle somewhere in the last couple hundred (again).

Just chatted with people for a little while, waiting for everyone else to come in. Sister is getting the hang of things, breaking under 25 on the run. I had wondered about the hills on the bike course for her, but she loved it. Way more than at Irongirl. Too flat and boring there. The other two came in later, happy to get through it. Think they enjoyed it, but not sure how much tri specific they'll be. Tough for all 3 of them to get any regular swimming in.


Like the race. Fun atmosphere. Beginner friendly too, but also can draw a few fast people.