5430 Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Got bumped a bit in the beginning but nothing too bad. For the 1st stretch it was somewhat hard to see since we were swimming into the sun so I just tried to keep people around me. Problem was there were people zig zagging every which way for the first 200m or so, but then it seemed to settle down some. I felt like a was keeping a decent pace but working a little harder than I should, not as smooth as I should be. Rounded the buoys a little wide then found some feet for the home stretch. They weren't very good feet though so I gave myself a little yelling at about my form - about keeping my hips up and lowering my turnover by lengthening my stroke like in the pool. It seemed to work because I felt more slippery & seemed to start going by a few people. I was VERY happy with my time out of the water and alhtough my HR was high I was never dying for breath. I don't remember taking in any big mouthfuls of water but I had a few big burps on the run up to transition.

Not take the buoys so wide. Identify when my stroke is being inefficient and give myself that little pep talk earlier. Otherwise just keep working on my stroke.

I don't know what's up with my age group, but I had the 14th best t1 in my AG and that includes putting on socks. I got quite a bit of free time on people here.

Not have the guy racked next to me knock my helmet & sunglasses off my bike.

Took it out at a med/hard pace to Jay Rd. & my stomach felt terrible. It didn't affect my pace much but I felt like puking until about the top of the long hill & I was beginning to wonder if/when I would be able to start taking in some fluids other than res water. Ryan passed me right about there so I decided to try & keep with him as best I could. I was able to stay right with him and we even cat & moused a couple of times on Neva & Niwot Rd. By this time my stomach was feeling better & my HR had started to come down (a little bit) and I was able to take in the bottle of accelerade I had with me. Legs felt good & I stayed with Ryan until the turn back to the res - I had a gu here although I didn't have any water to wash it down with & it stickified my mouth. Geared down & tried to spin a higher cadence for the last mile or so into t2. Overall I was very happy with this ride - since I was in one of the last waves I passed a lot of people & at a good clip too which just made me want to go faster. Plus finding out that I could hang with Ryan for a while gave me a boost too.

I seemed to get stuck behind people at just about avery corner and have to hit the brakes. In retrospect I should have eased up a little more (and/or sooner) to get my breathing and stomach a little more settled before the end. I think I should also have taken in some plain water to dilute the stuff in my stomach. I didn't leave anything out on the course though so I couldn't have asked for a better bike, esp. since I took 3' off last year. That will be hard to do again.

Went pretty smoothly. Grabbed a couple of gulps of water at my rack & then at the exit.

Nothing.

Legs felt like they are supposed to right away and I took it out at what felt like a comfortable pace. At the top of the hill I seemed to have things under control so I started to up the pace a little. Almost right away a side stitch started in and by the gate it was a sharp pain so I had no choice by to back off the pace. A lot. It started to subside to a manageable level so around the point I tried to go back to a normal pace from the slow pace I was at. This time my whole stomach turned painful and I had to stop and walk. I decided that wouldn't do so I ran at about as slow a pace as I could manage. Thru the turnaround and to the aid station I held a slow but ok pace. The side stitch was still there, but not debilitating. I started feeling a little better across the dam so I pushed the pace a little more. Felt ok for a little while, then- bam - right at the gate it hit again. Managed to hold an ok pace down the hill and into the chute. I had been looking forward to seeing how fast a 5k I was capable of (considering my pace in training runs has come down a lot this year & my PR is 2' faster when I wasn't even pushing it) and this surely wasn't it so I'm a bit disappointed. Especially since when I was able to try & push the pace my legs felt good and my conditioning was there.

I have used accelrade and gu during bricks before but I wonder if I needed to drink more water to dilute them more or maybe not have the gu so close to the end of the bike. I don't think it was a hydration issue though. In hindsight it probably would have been worth it to take it a little easier on the last part of the bike to make sure my stomach and HR were a little more settled when starting the run. On the plus side my severe cramp pace this year is slightly faster than last years severe cramp pace.

Ran into a whole bunch of people including a guy I used to work with at Copper 10 years ago. After 1/2 hour I could still feel the side stitch. Commisserated with a bunch of the BT people which is always fun, grabbed a beer which is always fun, watched the awards & headed home.


That would be the side stitch and cramping.


I did better than expected in both swim & bike so I am very happy with those times. If I had run at my goal pace (8'/mile) I would only have gained 4 spots although I would have gone under 1:30 which I was hoping to do. This race is so well run everyone feels like a pro and overall considering how competative of a field it is I am very pleased - took off 6' from last years time and still left myself room to improve & had fun too.