Mighty North Fork - TriathlonSprint

Got suited up right before the start and headed out to my wave which was in water technically I couldn't stand in which was new to me. Only had to bob around for a minute before the gun. Got going into an okay pace. was pretty crowded.. a lot of bumping around - had to push off a few slower guys and fight to get around them. Breathing was a little difficult. I'm pretty sure I need to spend a little more time in OW and in my wetsuit to get used to it. Would like to get my head in the water more and actually do less sighting. I think I'm so paranoid of getting kicked in the face, or swimming off course that I tend to look up too often. Rounded the bouy in around 5 min mark, and surprisingly was a little faster 2nd leg - less traffic. Overall a pretty good swim.

Swim in the suit more and get my head in the water longer - I know I can breath every 4th stroke - would be nice to have the confidence to do that in a race!

Planned to actually rush through the transitions this race since I finally got through my first race this year and didn't need to be as conservative. Also swam with my number and shirt on which helped. 127/408

Still would like a tri shirt and race number belt. Can move along even faster I think.

Okay, so after a faster transition than I'm used to - my heartrate seemed like it was through the roof after the swim and T1 - so I got my composure on the bike and settled into a nice cadence. Got passed by a few guys but was okay with it for now - I'm used to it. :) Once I felt stronger I picked up the pace and actually started passing a bunch of riders. That felt pretty good for a change! I got into aero as much as I could, and even took some turns down in aero - also new for me. Towards the last 1/4 mile, a small group that had been just ahead of me either started slowing down or I started speeding up. I could have passed them if I had more room but the race director really scared us about crossing the middle divider. I was a little annoyed - b/c it seem like this 10 or so riders knew we were near the end of the ride so they started to take it easy. Ugh, it's a race after all!

Be a little more confident in passing.

Well, after the traffic at the end of the ride, I was able to get off the bike pretty quickly. I was on the right side of the bike for some reason, so I ran holding the handle bars. Hmm. Some guy had leaned his bike on the end of the rack which screwed up the number that was posted, so I overshot my rack by one (good thing I had a physical marker - big light pole) to use as back up. Missing the rack probably cost me about 10 seconds, no big deal.. 166/408

Don't miss the rack.

I knew there was only 1 water stop, and I didn't think I drank enough on the bike (only a few sips) so I grabbed my water bottle and ran with that. On real long runs I usually run with a bottle so it was fine. Legs felt okay even after a fast ride for me. The start of the run on the beach was interesting. I think it actually helped me keep my pace down in the beginning of the run. So about 1/4 mile into the run, I see a guy pass me who was in my age group (ages were marked).. Ugh. There goes a spot! I wanted to run a sub 8min mile like I did after a 20mile training ride. This was only an 8mile ride so I thought it was do-able. I guess the swim and the race pace on the bike took a little more out of me though. I stuggled to keep it under 8:30 during the run. Somewhere around mile 2.5, another age grouper passed me. Ugh! I wish I had more energy! I finished strong though down the chute and was happy with my time. I'm definitely going to to this race next year and really going to push for a top 3 spot in my age group. 3rd place spot time was around 58:46. Look out next year.. here I come.

Mix in more speed work in training..

watermelon and a banana at the beach. Packed up transition and half mile walk back to the car.


More training!


Definitely going to do this race again next year. Going to skip the 10 yards of mulch the day before.. train more for speed, and work on transition speed. Looking forward to Montauk sprint next week. Man, I wish these races were at 6PM and not 6AM. I'm not a morning person.