Riverwood Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Person behind me was a no show, so no one ever got close behind me. The person ahead of me stayed a full length in front of me. My googles leaked. I've used them a few times, but save them mostly for races and use my old scratched up pair for practice.

I swam hard most of the time. My goal was to beat 7 minutes, including running to the timing mat, even if it meant blowing up later. The mat was a little closer this year. No one was blocking me at the ladder, but I don't usually use a ladder, maybe it would be faster to just push up on the side.

Wear my practice googles.

Us slow swimmers had to run with the bike the entire length of transition each way. It was good practice running with the bike anyway.

This was smoother and, I think, quicker than normal. No fumbling and just a quick check to make sure might helmet was on and fastened, I had my sunglasses, bike shoes, and some water.

Technically it was after I mounted the bike, so not in T1 time, but I forgot to

Strap in the water bottle before the race.

Aero most of the way. Climbing was hard. A couple of times I was rocking along over 25 mph for good stretches of easy downhill. Max speed was 31.

Twice slower bikes and cars mixed to screw me. First, near 30 mph on a down hill I catch a slow bike as a truck moves to pass me, I had to break hard as we started climbing! So much for that momentum. Second, an old lady passes me in her car, but won't pass the slower bike in front of us. For, what seemed like, 3 minutes approaching a left turn I was stuck at 10 mph considering passing this car, but worried she would make her move at the same time!

One other time I pushed myself too hard to execute a pass. I was gaining on the downhill, but as we started climbing we were more even, but I was possibly in the draft zone (probably plenty far back, but I can't judge it well and I'm paranoid), so I passed and paid for it later. Of course once I passed I couldn't let up....

*I adjusted my bike rank in my age group up one (and my overall age group rank) because the fastest biker was DQed, he showed a 17 minute bike split... for 14 miles. Obviously an accident, because no one cheats that bad and his other times were normal BOP. Did not adjust overall.

Be more aware of situations where I might get stuck behind traffic. Get stronger.

At least I didn't drop the bike. T2 went well. I did have to stop and tuck in the extra length of the Yankz lace. You're supposed to cut them off and burn the ends, but I couldn't find a smoker... in Johnston County, NC! I didn't want to ask randomly, so I was looing to catch someone actually smoking, but never did. The Yankz were still a net gain, tucking that one piece was much faster than tying, double knotting, and getting the tension right.

I cutoff the Yankz now, that's it.

My legs were my limiter here. I almost tumbled going down the first steep downhill. I couldn't slow down and was really just move my feet as fast as I could to try to keep them under me.

I could never really get my legs going, my HR was not as high as I was aiming, certainly not like Azalea.

I'm not sure, but something.

Walking and drinking a lot. Seriously, I think I drank two bottles of water and three Powerades.


My leg strength. The wheels fall off long before the engine can really run.


They made a lot of changes and made a great race better. Most notably, supporting the final finishers better.