Power Pioneer Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Lined up. I'm 72nd entering the water with a time of 6:00 given. I tell myself that a sprint race with a 300 meter swim is never won with the swim, so just stay cool and pace yourself well. Explained to those around me that my pink swim cap is lucky because I had my best swim ever with it. Some guy who entered around 10 or 15 most likely made a mistake and gave way too fast of a time, becuase at 50 meters he was dying. He must've been passed 25 times. I felt so sorry for him, because I felt that exact way at Athens when I swam a 7:15 after signing up for a 5:30. That was such a horrible feeling, so I sure hope he finished.

And look at that time. That's like a girl's time! I say this because it is common knowledge that girls swim faster than us guys. I jump in feet first, feeling so ridiculous as I do so. I wish I had pictures of people's faces as they jump into the pool. That would be great for comedy. I flip forward and take off. After 25 meters I'm already close to passing someone. So I tell myself as I did prerace to just stay cool and go with the flow. But these people are so slow. So I pass the first guy at the wall around 100 in. Pass another at the wall around 150 I think. The way the swim was setup you had a lane to yourself the first and last 25, but shared it everywhere else. Well I'm about 200 in now and I'm ready to pass another, but this guy isn't letting me. So I go three wide in lanes that are maybe 6 foot wide. Possibly the coolest thing I think I've done in a tri. I have one guy swimming my direction on the left, one guy coming head on to me on my right, and I slide right between the both of them. Looking back, this was really pretty stupid on my part, and I should definitely have waited to pass at the wall rather than risk head-on collision. By this point I only have 100 left maybe and it's smooth from this point on. Jumped up the ladder and headed to T1.

Give a better swim time. I could've easily done this in 5:20, so that would've been a better estimate.

This was one of the faster in the field, but I believe I couldn't done much, much better. First off, there was a really long run into T1 from the pool. In fact, Jack joked prerace that this could be considered a swim, run, bike, run. It was probably around 200 meters. Took my lucky swim cap and goggles and threw them down, put on the helmet, unrack the bike and go. Oh shit! I forgot my race belt. Turn around, rerack the bike, put on the race belt, unrack the bike again, and take off. I really don't like wearing the race belt on the bike. Seems like it should be part of T2. So I get out of the transition area, and I can't figure out where to mount. Run about 25 yards into the bike course and realize I could've mounted long ago. So I mount. Now I can't find the exit. Turns out you have to ride through the parking lot. Maybe I should pay attention in the prerace meeting!

Don't forget the race belt. Listen in the prerace meeting so I know the course layout. This seems to be occuring on a regular basis. You'd think I would learn.

Once I finally got going, I got into my shoes fairly well. I've done better. Took in a gel around 2 miles out. The course had a few more hills than I was expecting. But nothing serious. Had to slow down to 14 on a couple. But the road was rough once you got out of the city. This sucked. I'm so glad I didn't get a flat since I've had 5 flats over my last 3 rides. I'm passing people constantly early - the usual suspects (good swimmers that are poor cyclists). I'm gussing I pass around 30 total. Never got passed on the bike. Took the U-turn absolutely horribly. I slowed down so much I considered unclipping to keep my balance and not crash. I have no clue why this was so difficult, but it sure was. Took the hills on the way back easier than the front because my HR was really high for the bike. Got out of my shoes almost immediately. I've definitely improved here, to the point where I now get out as soon as I see the transition area.

Get a tri-bike. It's going to be so on when this happens! I can't wait to get one! Corner the U-turn better. Do a better job of catching a little draft as I'm making passes. Pleased with my performance, but did not set my goal. Although I also thought the roads would be better. And T.I.T.S. Need more T.I.T.S. Had to throw that one out for the BT perv.

Pleased with this performance. Was only seconds from being one of the top in the field. Might've been the top in the field but I decided to turn on the foot pod for the HR monitor. I really wanted my pace. Flying dismount worked very well.

Nothing

Immediately my left calf starts to cramp. I keep on running trying to decide what to do. I still have a gel, but I know you are supposed to take them with water. So how far is the aid station I'm wandering. Still cramping. After about 2 minutes, I decide to take about 1/3 of the gel. I don't know if it was this or just the muscle relaxing, but it quit. Thank God! After this the run was pretty uneventful. I'd already caught up with the fast swimmers who were a bit slow in the bike and run. Made a couple of passes. Only got passed once, but this guy was on his 2nd loop while I was on my first. Mile 1 - 7:06. Mile 2 - 7:08. Mile 3 - 7:12. These are according to the polar, which is usually accurate. For some reason the course was not a 5k but 3.3 miles. The polar registered it as 3.7 miles. I'm not really sure what it was, but I think it was a little longer than 3.5. Several people were saying the same after the race. Regardless, I'm very happy with my performance here, and I believe I made a good decision by taking part of the gel when cramping. There was a surprising amount of support around the finish line/loop 1 to loop 2 transition. Found myself going at a 6:45 pace starting the second loop. It's weird how people you don't even know cheering can affect your mentality. Coming into the finish you had to duck right and go down a hill. I didn't know where to turn, but I knew it was close. So I yell to the volunteer "Where do I finish!!!". Hopefully I didn't scare her! I swear I'm in a whole other world when I'm racing!

Keep on following coach's training regimen. Increase my cadence to 90 with the tempo trainer. Again, I really don't think the pace is accurate, but I could be wrong. According to the results, less than 10 people registered a pace of below 7:00. I find that hard to believe.

Walked around and stretched a little. Ate a banana and half a bagel with gatorade, and headed back to see Tahressa and Brandon finish. Chatted with some of the vendors/marketers to see what they were offering. Not alot there. Once I saw my time and realized I was in the top 20 I realized that for the first time ever I actually have a real reason to hang around for the awards ceremony. Took my third place plaque, and Tahressa's second place plaque since she jetted early.


Poor execution in T1. Gave too slow a swim time. Good race overall, despite not meeting my goals. If I'd known the roads were that rough though, I would've never set it that high.


First ever hardware at a tri! First ever top 10% finish. Definitely a race I will remember.

I hate to say it, but this was too easy. I thought it would be coming in. The sprints have been fun, but I really am ready to graduate to bigger and better things. Hopefully my performance next week at Disco reflects this.

As always, Ironhead puts on a top-notch race. Always organized, always to-the-point. It's good that way. You know what you're going to get. Proceeds benefitted the women's soccer team, so they were the volunteers for the race. Bagels, bananas, yogurt and gatorade afterwards. Can't complain there. But only 2 tents setup as info booths.

I'd like to say I would do this one again, but I just don't see myself racing sprints too much anymore.