Luray Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Geez, they've put us clydesdales in the second wave with the young bucks after the elites kick it off -- I'm going to get run over. Oh well, I keep to the right and to the back of the wave and swim my slow but steady breaststroke. Not much of a crowd at the first buoy, but I can't see the second mark because we're now swimming into the sun and there's a lot of glare. I follow the crowd, but go a little outside before I see the buoy for myslef. A few people from the third wave pass me -- no problem. I round the last mark, head for home, and don't get passed by too many other folks before I'm on the beach. I'm out of the water in a little under 20 minutes. Slow, but about what I expected.

Work up to 750m freestyle. A wetsuit would have helped with that, I guess.

The T1 started with a short run across a beach, a stretch of grass (which they covered with outdoor carpet, thank you very much, since there was some gravel), and a run up a flight of wooden stairs. Fortunately it wasn't as slippery as I thought it could be. I'm really glad that I went with 100% synthetic fiber socks this time -- much easier to put on wet feet. Thanks also to the person who suggested rolling them almost all the way inside-out to make it even easier! Not too bad getting out of the TA on onto the road.

I'm new at this and I found it to be a challenging bike course. I hit a personal land speed record down the first hill and wonder if I'm an experienced enough rider to go that fast. The long inclines really took it out of me and I found myself "cruising" at 10-11 mph. The last hill near the end was a killer -- I read someone else's report and they said it was a 20% grade. If that's right, I gotta be pretty happy getting over it non-stop, even in grannie gear.

Force myself to drink more. I barely started my second bottle and could have used the fluids on the run. Maybe another gel shot along the way.

Pretty routine T2 (can I say that after only two races?) and I take my time to find my legs and walk out of the TA. Thanks David G. for the nice race belt!

I thought I felt pretty good at the start, but quickly ran out of gas. The ride took more out of me than I thought. It also warmed up pretty quickly and the sun seemed hot. I end up taking about 4 walk breaks. I saved some for the finish and was glad the end was downhill.

Stretching, re-hydrating, and re-fueling.


Another well run Setup VTS event. Great location in a wooded park. Very spectator friendly. Looking forward to next year!