Brigantine Island Triathlon - TriathlonMini Sprint

Started to the inside towards the front because everyone seemed to want to gather to the outside. Fine with me. Got going well fairly contact free. Started catching swimmers from the first three wave very quickly. Dodging them could be a challenge but I did it with out messing them or myself up. Was litterally right on the buoy and had to duck under it cause there were too many swimmers cutting tight around the corner. Quick leg to the next buoy went fast and I rounded better. Then the long swim leg back. Went well again passing people from the other waves made it feel like I was really moving. I smacked a guy in the jaw from my wave(accident and not very hard cause I stopped my stroke as soon as I sensed he was there. I apologized and it went ok from there. With the currents it is hard to compare the results from one year to the next, but it was about 30 second faster than last year and 20 second slower than 2 years ago. Good swim, relaxed and under control. Guess it felt faster since i was passing people from the other waves most of the way.

Not much was a pretty good swim.

165th in T1. A pretty smooth transition and a long run to the racks in bare feet. No real troubles.

My tube of water would have been useful to rinse of the black slit from the boat ramp.

The bike was my focus for today's race and it was one nice ride. Had a little adventure right at the start as the dude in front of me comes to a dead stop at the end of the timing mats, I have to pull my bike out of the way as does the guy behind me. Fortunally no contact. Got clipped in and up to speed pretty quick. The wind bothered me some but I got to 20 mph, I started moving forward and passing people right away. Starting in the fourth wave was really cool. It can be a mental drain starting in the first wave and only passing a few people while getting passed by the speedsters from the later waves. This time I felt like I was flying. Did the south island loop and found that section went even more into the wind, but I fought through that knowing we would turn soon. And we did and I look down and the speed was comming up and I really started passing people. Coming back down Brinatine Blvd, I got up to 24 MPH and was cruising. Problem was with a narrow bike lane and so many people going at vastly different speeds, it could get a bit hairy. And with roads as they were everyone was close to the middle of the road. Ended up on the wrong side of the yellow line with a car coming towards me twice to avoid an accident. Turning was good but i lost speed as it took a while to get back up to speed. Flew down Ocean Drive at 24 MPH and passing alot of people from my wave, but the best was when we came back to Brigantine Blvd one guy past me right after the turn and started motoring away, but once I cranked up to speed I reeled him in an past him and looked down and saw 27 MPH!!!. Once we got to the far end of the island and started the North loop the road conditions were terrible and the speed came down and then we were back into the wind. but I worked to keep up at 20 mph and before I knew it it was the last few blocks and time to dismount.

I still need to work on cornering, turns, and bikehandling skills cause I feel like I lose a ton of momentum and I got a bit squirrel at times, but a 21.5 MPH average blows my previous best out of the water and felt totally awesome.

Nice long run again to the rack felt very slow, but was first back to the rack so racking was easy and the tranisiton was smooth an methodical. Grab a swing of gatorade grabbed the hat and was off.

Someday I should get the bike shoes I can just slide into and out of and leave clipped in. Think it would have been alot easier to run in bare feet.

My legs felt good right off the bat but I took the first mile conservatively. Had the kid who won Jersey Genesis fly by me early on. Had a couple of folks from my wave pass by so I kept the second guy in my sight and didn't let him get too far ahead. After the first water stop I pushed a bit and reeled him in as well as the T3 dude (on of the few people who past me on the bike). Caught my mark at just before the turn and then started working my way back. I missed the first mile mark so i only got the split at the turnaround. 15:35 out 15:45 back. I increased the effort on the way back and flowed pretty good. Caught an ironman in a jesters hat (in my age group), caught the Guy's multisport dude who was just in front of me at the start (reeled him back in) and flowed well. Coming to the finish line I saw a familiar face and realized it was Johnny K when he called my name. That was cool. Had a 22 year old pass me right at the end, but why sprint when the kid aready had about 9-12 minutes on me.

Good run. Since the bike was the focus of the day, I just wanted a smooth steady run off the bike. I certainly got that. Steady and fairly even splits and still felt pretty good at the end. The sun started to drain me but all those evil lunch runs prepared me pretty well. I don't know why but I rarely do well on this run but today I was about a minute or so faster than the last couple years. Nothing to complain about, except maybe they need some larger cups at the water station and the mist shower would have been better at mile 3 than mile 1.

Walked back down the end to say hi to Johnny K. and find out about Lake Placid. He and his sister did awesome both11 hour ironmans and she was 8th in her age group and narrowly missed a Kona spot. Walked back to the rack and talked a bit with on of my guys next to me and his dad. Walked back to the car loaded up, got changed, then waited for the post race food and awards ceremony.


Well other than this being a C race at the end a high volume cycle, and not enough swimming, I thought I did great. This is the fourth year I've done this race and I scored a 4:50 PR and went top quarter in my AG and top 17% overall and PR the bike leg with my best AVE by over a full MPH. Heck I would have been 2nd of 18 relays teams. Awesome and somewhat unexpected.


20th annual race. Good turnout, sold out early every year I've done it. Good post race party. Lots of Waves do make for some interesting problems like AGs being split up (of course I don't really have to worry about such things) but it does spread things out as much as possible. Good race for spectators as you pass by the same areas a number of times and the park is good for bored kids. Good race for beginner's as well, not too intimidating and lots of volunteers. I'll be back again for the fifth time.