Wild Cat Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon

This is a great swim course. The river has almost no current at this point and the bottom is all soft sand. I managed to stay in the pack (though near the back), so I didn't feel I was swum over too much. I also managed to get back into crawl after dropping into breaststroke, so I was able to catch up to a couple of people in places.

I still need to work on the swim to be able to do the crawl all the way through, though I do note that I stay much more on target if I intersperse a little breaststroke in the turns.

T1 is in biking segment

This course is one of my absolute favorites. The first 5 mi is on flat road by the river. The next 5 is rolling hills, none of which are too steep, but they give you some good descents as well. I spent much of my time catching up to or being caught up by a 20-yr old who eventually pulled up ahead. She kept my pace going well!

I'm still working on nutrition. This time I went back to Goo and water instead of Gatorade. We'll see what ends up working best.

T2 is in the run segment. After the bike, I took the remains of my water bottle and poured it over my head to keep cool. A big plus to bringing water instead of Gatorade!

I had been training myself to pick up the pace a little bit in the run, so I was excited to try it out in this race. Then, by the time I got to the run section I realized I'd spent much of my energy already on the bike and there was full sun on the run course (my bane!) I just pushed myself to keep running and felt happy with finishing when I did.

Looking back, I find to my utmost shock that I was doing 8 min miles!! I haven't done that since I was a teenager! (At least I haven't clocked myself as doing that. I never time my training runs.) Maybe this whole training faster thing actually works!

I went far beyond my expectations already! I can't think of anything I'd do differently.

Did some stretching and went straight for the food. They also had a great live band, so I danced a song before finally resting some more.


The heat is always a problem and I can't see avoiding it in August. It wasn't particularly hot, but it was 75-80 and that's enough for me. Hours post-race I got hit with my heat exhaustion. It hadn't felt like I exerted myself that much, but when you can't eat to recover your calories and you're knocked out despite drinking loads of water, it's definitely a bad thing!


I love this race. It was especially fun because I did it last year and could directly compare my times. I dropped nearly 9 minutes and improved every single piece! What do I like about it? The swim is manageable and not too far from the transition area. The bike route could not be better -- rolling hills and only two turns in the entire course. The run is flat and along the river, plus it's there-and-back so you know just exactly how far you have left to run at the end of the race. This was a great way to start my birthday!

I'm definitely going to do this race again next year. It's just too lovely!