GJCC Memorial Day Triathlon - TriathlonMini Sprint

The swim was right about where I was hoping to be. Came out of the water in 3:05 according to the results. Passed a sh!t ton of people, since a lot of racers either drastically under-estimated their swim times, or I just should have been about 10 places higher. Swim was down/back/down/back in a 50m pool, and you had to go underneath the lane lines at each turn. Felt pretty good, though I had to shake off a few jitters on the first 50.

Ideally, start earlier. Sucked having to pass people every 30 seconds or so.

Not sure what my transition times are. Hopefully those will go up in a few days. I believe they are built into the bike split. Okay, I lied. Just checked the site - T1 is included in the bike split, T2 in the run split.

Had maybe a 200m sprint from the pool to the racks. Out the pool, through the "Pool House," down the stairs, and then to the 2nd rack from the end (though thankfully it was right by the exit). Ripped my goggles/cap off right away, quick-stepped down to my bike. Quickly threw on my cycling shoes, helmet and sunglasses, and ran up to the mount line.

T1 time is an estimate

Learn how to flying mount. Although here it wouldn't have worked since the mount line was right on about an 8% incline.

The first mile or so was FAST and slightly downhill. Started dropping people like 3rd period French, and never stopped. There were a couple of decent sized hills, one of which caused me to drop out of my big chainring. I probably passed 15-20 people on the bike, and only got passed once (the only time I was passed in the whole race), and it was by a member of the disk wheel/aero helmet crew. There weren't too many of those folks at this local race.

Tried to hold a hard pace for as much of the race as I could. Since all the distances were so short, I figured I could really hammer and not wipe myself out too much. I noticed I was breathing really heavily for a large portion of the race, but it got better when I took in some Gatorade. But then I went right back to hauling ass, so the heavy breathing reappeared. I was just hoping that I wouldn't be totally gassed when I headed out of T2.

I was 9th overall on the bike.

Nothing - this was a very solid effort on my part.

Not sure what my T2 time is - it was built into my run time.

Ran the bike down to the racks, and could see some people coming in from the swim. Quickly racked the steed, off with the cycling shoes, on with running socks and shoes, sunglasses, visor oand I was out.

Learn how to do the flying dismount. I think I could probably save 5 seconds in T2 if I didn't have to unclip and swing one leg over from a dead stop. It probably doesn't help much that I nearly lost my balance when I slipped on my right cleat, and had to regain verticality.

T2 time is an estimate

Took me maybe 1/3 of a mile to find my stride. Got in behind someone and drafted as much as possible for about a minute. He was slowing down, so I made my move and left him eating my dust. After that it was clear sailing. Threw a cup of water of my head at the turn-around (much to the surprise of the 4 people working the aid station) and then humped it back the mostly uphill return portion of the course. Didn't pass anybody else, but more importantly I didn't get passed. This was just a straight, high intensity run - not a sprint, but easily Z3.5 if not Z4. I was hurting at the end, and was terrifically out of breath when I came across the line.

Push a little harder on the first 1/3 of a mile, and maybe work on my T2 to knock that down a few more seconds.

Grabbed my medal and a bottle of water, then proceeded to dry heave for about 30 seconds. Walked around, ate a banana and a small smoothie, watched people finish for maybe 10 minutes then walked the bike back to the car.


Not enough practice riding hills. More time on the Trace would definitely zap my legs into shape.


A fun, surprisingly well-organized local tri. If we were here next summer, I would definitely come back and do it again.

Doesn't hurt much that I was top 10 overall. Ironman not taken into consideration, this has been my best effort out of all my races. Training volume wasn't really a concern, since I'm probably at Oly-HIM level now. This was a very beginner friendly race, so the overall competition level was fairly low, which was nice. It was kinda cool to be at a race and not see everybody's bike blinged out with $3k of accessories.

This race was a ton of fun. Hard but easy (in that I don't really need to recover from it). Well run, great course, helpful volunteers, good police presence at the intersections. A+ to Team Magic.