Galena Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Looking at the course, it was a rectangle with the first turn about 100m out. Remembering from last year, I got stuck bobbing up and down at some of the turns and didn't want that to happen this year. So this time I just went for it and sprinted to the first buoy and settled in after that. I've done several sets like this in the pool so I figured it was time to see if it paid off. It ended up working because there were only a handful of people at the buoy when I got there and I had no problems going around it.

Once around I slowed down some and people started moving by me. I'm sure they were pissed at my slow down, but I didn't really care. At first I took some abuse (legs, arms, tangling, etc.) from people going by and let them pass easily. But then I realized they were fighting for the same position and same feet as I was on so I stepped up a little bit and started defending my space. I didn't get good feet for much of the time though, unfortunately.

No problems on any of the other buoys. About 500 yards in I realized I was just settling into a rhythm and also realized I was almost finished with the swim. Turned the last buoy to go to shore, stood up and looked at my watch to find I swam it in 9'39". Considering my goal was 11'05" I was about as happy as I could be!! Hopefully no one tells me the swim was short, but I wouldn't be surprised. Still, this was the best paced swim I've had.

Overall swim time of 11'11" includes the run up to transition to get to the timing mat.

Find feet to stay on. Otherwise nothing.

Coming out of the water there's a decent run to get to T1, and T1 is rocky with those little guys that stick in your foot and don't leave. I saw some guys taking off their wetsuits in the grass right before T1 so I stopped and did that, which turned out to be a good idea. While in T1, you have to put everything in a plastic bag so they can bring it to the finish later. It takes a little longer, but I got it done and was out of transition in okay time. I had the 29th fastest T1 overall.

Keep moving.

Felt pretty good on my bike coming up the first hill and even on the first short but steep hills that make up the first 5 - 6 miles. Once I got on the open road I could feel the headwind that was blowing at about 15 mph. Since the course goes only one way, it was only a headwind (or crosswind) the entire time.

I got passed by 3 guys total. Two of them dropped me like a bad date but the third I stuck with and played leap frog for most of the time. He came at a good time when I was getting a little complacent on a hill. When he passed I was going about 9 mph up it and then pushed to finish it at just over 10 mph. With all the hills there, that ends up being real time. Other than that it was a good ride and the sliced tire didn't hurt me at all.

Coming into T2 you turn left and go about 20 yards to the dismount. As I was coming in (about 15 yards before the turn) I was yelling "on your left" about as loud as I could since I was passing a guy before the turn. I yelled it about 6 times but to no avail. The guy looked at me but apparently preferred to race to the turn and I got cut off and almost ended up eating iron.

Ride more hills in training. I haven't done as much of that this year. My bike time this year was about 45" slower, which is probably equal parts wind and me. I feel stronger on the bike overall, but still have some work left when it comes to pushing on the hills.

Got through here pretty well and was 77th overall. Had a slight problem getting my right shoe on, which cost me about 10".

Put baby powder in the shoes to help them slide on easier.

There's a big hill coming out of T1 that feels nothing short of awful. Last year I walked it, this year I ran it. I don't know that one's any faster than the other. Once I got going I settled in alright, but just couldn't get my legs to turn over like I had planned. If you race how you train, it became very apparent here because I felt like I was running a strong tempo the whole time rather than a 5k pace. Aside from that hill taking a chunk of time out of your pace that you have to make up later on the course, every time I pushed to about a 6'20" pace, I couldn't hold on like I expected I could. Maybe 30" to a minute and then I'd find myself slowing down. At the turn around we were met with the wind. I knew I wasn't having the run I wanted but still did what I could to hold on.

Once down the hill (I'm surprised people don't fall coming down this thing) there were two guys in front of me that had picked up the pace. Once I made the final turn, I sprinted down the chute and passed both of them to end up with the exact same time (to the second) as last year). Go figure.

More guts since it's a shorter distance to run.

Just hung out with my family and others. The post-race is in a park which makes a good picnic type atmosphere with everyone hanging around. I had some food and a beer and sat in the shade for a while.


Maybe some more hill training. Otherwise this was a C priority race so not a lot went into it. Overall I'm satisfied with the race and see it as a pretty good training day. The swim was definitely the highlight for me.


I think they do a really good job with this race. It has to be a bit of a clusterf*&k trying to organize a point to point race (or any race for that matter) but everything was on time, plenty of volunteers, and the post-race atmosphere is good as well. And it's a good excuse for me to go visit my family in May.