Vytra TOBAY Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Was looking forward to the swim.. wanted to see what type of improvement from last year which was my first tri.. although last year I was pretty sure the course was a little shorter than advertised. I know I was fast this year, but my time was actually 2 min slower - I'm thinking that's b/c the course was the correct distance. Overall the swim was pretty good..although I didn't realize there we 2 rows of bouys, so here I am keeping them on my left.. and next thing I know I'm swimming right into everyone coming back! Ooops That probably hurt my time a bit too, but I got back into line pretty quickly.

Get a better view of the course before hand so I can sight the right bouys!

the TNT group had an entire rack on the end of the fairly large transition area (1000 people) which was nice. My area was really easy to find, right next to the bike out. Long run in from the water, but did much better than last years first transition ever. Was going to go w/o socks, but my "test" a few days before suggested otherwise.

Practice sockless running a few more times, would like to compete in a sprint w/o them to save some time.

Got on the bike pretty quickly - rack was right next to the bike out. Take a couple of min to get out of a park, then got up to speed. Got going nicely, and passed quite of few bikers. We were in wave 10, and there were a lot of slower racers in front of us. Unfortunately, it's a well known first timer race, and there were a ton of people riding side by side, or not moving over to let you pass which was a little frustrating. At one point, I was with 2 faster riders trying to pass and getting pushed way off the to left, which happened to be on really rough road...on a fast down hill so I was getting a little annoyed. Saw an ambulance on the side tending to someone who crashed I think. Fair amount of traffic on the course made it challenging at times too. Overall a pretty good ride and good improvement from last year.

More miles and hills to prep.

It was a LONG way from the dismount to the rack, but did okay getting there. There were a few sharp turns while running with the bike - the race director was on the PA yelling to slow down in the bike shoes.. right at that moment I saw someone almost bite it and slip. I dismounted on the right side of the bike which felt akward.. would have been better to run with the bike on my right.

Dismount on the left of the bike.

I forgot how hilly the first half of the run course is, so it took me a little while to get in the groove but I did okay. The cool weather helped. I really didn't drink too much.. they only had water on the run..took a few sips. The second half is where it really helped the avg pace.

Did really well as far as pace goes, still felt strong at the finish.

took some pictures, checked in at the TNT tent. Had a couple of bites of bagel and a sip or two of Blue Point beer which was nice. Had recoverite on the ride home.


Hills.


Happy with my time - beat last years race which was my first tri by almost 7 minutes which was fun. Looking forward to seeing what I can do next year here.