J-Hawk Late Bird Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

For your lane assingment you were labled A, B or C. A went first which is what I was. My plan was to take an easy pace for the first 100 yards and then hammer. What happened, and I figured it would, is that the "B" guy went out hard after he started 10 seconds after me and caught me after about 100 yards. I stopped at the end of a lap and let him pass which takes a little bit of time but then I jumped right on his feet to draft some. Well, after about 3 laps he started to tire and now as I'm behind him I'm actually slowing up at points but eventually I went by and stayed there. Happy with the swim, jumped out got my stuff and then they record your time as you head out the door.

I guess I could have saved another few seconds by powering out some more and staying ahead of the guy but I am always wanting to pull back on the swim some as I have blown the wad b4 (see Elkhart Lake).

T1 time gets added your bike time. I had a pretty decent T1 though I think since all went smoothly.

Not much

Well on the way out it was awesome. I was probably averaging 24-25mph on my computer but the wind was at my back. Once we turned and started heading in I think those head winds were about 20-25mph! I drank a lot, took two gels on the bike and just tried to spin a high cadence. That head wind really can hit you mentally but I just tried to get as low and stay as small as I could which is not easy for me. My bike time was about 51st out of 237 overall so I guess I'm OK with that. When you take out the T1 time here I guess I would be in the mid to upper 18 range but I thought I was averaging about 19+ but that wind was brutal.

Not much - I got passed by a I think three guys early on but I caught one of them back again and stayed ahead. Nobody else really around me then at that point.

T2 included with run time.

Took a good mile for my legs to feel decent. It was really a struggle after fighting that wind and then to be running comfortably. Normally I get passed a lot but I only remember getting passed twice and I was even catching a few people I think from the prior wave which is kind of fun for me! I was just hanging on during the run though where I felt like I wanted to walk but just told myself to keep moving. I'm real curious to see my mile splits as I am fairly certain the last mile was my fastest. On the last mile though I look at the HRM and saw I got up to 200 bpm going up a hill (get the cart)! I'm happy with this effort but always wish I could be faster. I think on a flat course I might have had a chance to get my avg under 10 min/mile but didn't happen today. I'm actually thrilled when my run time beats over half the field.

Train more/weigh less. I'm so happy I did this race though to end the year. Having my year end with the Racine HIM just felt anti-climactic since I put in a lot of work and then to be done so early in the season. I'm making a plan for the offseason but I feel strongly that with regular wind conditions, more lost weight and better training I can push 1:20 or so on this course.

Chatted with donkeys. At cookies and chugged water.


Training the last few months but I'm reasonably happy.


Not thrilled about the roads (they might have wanted to re-route this time around). I thought the transition area wasn't real secure due to people coming and going over the long day. Otherwise it's a nice race to end the year and I certainly would do it again.