Emerald Pointe Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This swim felt very relaxed and I found myself immediately hitting my stroke cadence. I passed several people in the first wave, so I thought my split was going to be faster. I suppose that I was a little too relaxed and needed to push a little harder. I started very close to the shore and swam clear of the "washing machine". Rounding the bouy went smoothly. I tried to stand up too early at the finish and sunk into about 2 ft of silt/quicksand. Just a nice OWS. Last year was 8:22 so I lost some time comparatively.

Push myself harder.....this area is my limiter. I may need to improve my technique or work with a coach. Oh, and swim more. The city pool closed when kids went back to school, so I have only logged about 3-4000yds in the last couple of months.

I ran up the big hill and felt it in my thighs. Consider it a warmup for the bike. I made a joke to someone I was passing that I thought we biked before we ran......this was a pretty good jog to T1. I decided to wear a shirt on the bike, so that took some extra time. Overall I fet this was OK. Last years time was 3:17, so I guess I improved here.

Maybe go without a shirt to save 10 sec? It was warm enough.

My thighs felt a little burned from the run to T1, but I found a nice rhythem after about 5 min. Just after leaving the transition, I had to hit the brakes hard on one of the downhills. It looked like a pretty bad accident with a cyclist and a car. It was not a closed course and there was quite a bit of traffic. All I saw was a mangled bike and a couple of folks tending to the downed biker. I hope he is OK. I saw another accident at about mile 7 or so. It looked like someone went off of the left side of the road. Said a little prayer for both the above mentioned cyclists. The bike course had several short climbs. I would say that I was out of the saddle on about 1/2 of these. My training paid off (hill repeats) but I really wanted to save a little for the run. Near mile 9 I was trading on & off with a guy on a Quintana Roo (black & white). We must have passed each other about 4 times over 3 miles or so. There were some pretty sweet bikes on the course....

I felt that this went well. Several folks passed me so I thought my split would have been a little slower. More time in the saddle.

Last years time was 1:13 so I improved all of 3 seconds. I felt that I was leaving something behind as I left the T zone. I had everything, but just didnt seem right.

Nothing. Maybe practice?

This run just felt good. The entire run (except for two spots) was shaded so it was comfortable. I tried to pace myself at first to see how the legs felt. They responded well with no real cramps or soreness from biking. The addition of bike-run bricks to my workout schedule really helped out here. I always end up running/pacing with someone, but not this time. After the turn, I decided that it was time to pick up the pace. My legs felt great, breathing was solid and hydration was good. I was able to sprint to the finish after trudging up "the hill". Passed someone right at the line and it turned out to be someone in my agegroup, which made my place 7 instead of 8th. Set a PB on this run, so

Set a PB/PR on this run, so I'm not sure what else I could have done. Maybe I could have pushed a little earlier.

Walked down to the restroom where all of the tents were setup last year. It was completely desolate with no-one around. I must have hydrated too much 'cause I really had to go. Made my way to get a shirt (which I like better than last years) and some food. Cheered some of the folks finishing then grabbed a diet coke, water and headed back to the transition. I spoke with Ashley Folkes, who won the 30-34 agegroup. Nice guy with a sweet Orbea bike. Then I waited with everyone to leave the transition area. I noticed that there was a big emphasis on making sure that only athletes were in the transition. We were not allowed into the T zone unless our number was on the bike. I would rather be safe than for someone to walk off with a bike. Does this happen much during races? Not sure if I have ever heard of it happening, but could imagine it could. After the last athlete finished the bike, we were then allowed to leave the T zone and walked back to the car.


I need to improve my swimming technique and log more time in the water. I would also like to eventually break 21min during the run (more speed training). I think a big key to a good race is eating breakfast of some sort. Just felt like I had more energy during this race than prior events.


I really enjoyed this race. It was a well orchestrated event by Jim and his crew. There were plenty of volunteers, water stations and policeman on the course. This will be on my list next year for sure.