Parvin State Park Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Started off good the 1st 100 or so and then found myself off course. For some reason this got me out of my rhythm and my confidence started to wane. Probably made it about 1/2 through before I started switching between free style and breast stroke. Very disappointing as I know I don't need to do this but need to get stronger mentally in this discipline. A bunch of the ladies from the wave behind me caught me and I decided to try and latch onto to them some so they could lead me in the right direction. Was able to tail them but was still struggling to relax and took a break on a buoy. Probably about 75 yards from the end the water was only chest deep so decided to run it on in. Actually slower than swimming it I think so probably won't do that again. As I exited the water one of the women I had drafted off of in the water was struggling getting the wetsuit started off so unhooked and unzipped for her as we ran into T1.

Not panic and stay relaxed and slow! Did good in the beginning and warm up and just need to believe in myself. I know it will come as I've only been swimming since Jan and had never completed a single lap in my life prior to that. Just got my times and disappointed barely better than my 1st. Felt a lot better I thought as I actually swam normally some. Plan on putting a lot of time in the water between now and NJ State.

Went really well. Ran past my Dad who was on a bench right outside of transition and good a good greeting from him and some encouragement to go knock 5 minutes off my last races time. Luckily prior to the race start I realized I forgot a water bottle to clean my feet with (the run up from the swim is total sand) so Jay had offered the use of his water since he'd be gone by the time I got there. Cleaned off, dried off and shoed up and headed out. Seemed quick to me.

Not much other than remember my own water and maybe run a bit harder from the water to transition. Cut a whole minute of my 1st T1 last month!

After my last race I wanted to make a conscious effort to not just do what is easy on the bike this time. I performed a good moving start on the bike and was off. Immediately got up to 20mph and stayed there for quite awhile. Fell to 16 a few times but was determined to keep speed up to or over 20 mph as much as possible and really tried to push through. Definitely passed more people than passed me but some of the slower swimmers with killer bikes went whizzing by me pretty fast.

Still feel like I could push more at times as I get lackadaisical on the course. Overall very satisfied as 6 minutes faster than Hammonton.

Still struggle a bit dismounting the bike (gotta work on this at home). Pretty much stop completely, teeter and then get off. The good news is there was no sign of cramping whatsoever! Ran it into T2 and a few people had put there bikes out into the aisle I was trying to go down so had to hoist bike over them in order to rack mine. Went great from here. Hooked bike own, grabbed bottle from bike, took a quick drink, stowed helmet and took off running. Probably the only benefit to biking and running with the same shoes is no wasted time here.

Remember my race number? Didn't matter in the end but jeez follow the rules! A little slower than Hammonton but that was because of my choice of racks.

Felt good at the start of the run and found a pretty good rhythm passing some people. Somewhere near the end of the trail I felt a little stiffness developing in my left hamstring and decided not to push the run like I planned to. Was able to maintain the pace pretty much throughout and my 1st half time was the same within 1 second of my return trip. Was reasonably happy with the effort but would've like to be able to push it just a bit more.

Remember my hat for the run is probably it. Like I said was planning on emptying the tank completely here but coming out of T2 I saw my time was a little over 54 minutes so knew I was in good shape to beat my goal of 1:20 with just a comfortable run for me.

Found Jay and found out he finished in 1:15 and change and he thought his swim was in the 7 minute range. I'm never going to beat him if I keep giving up 5 minutes to him at the start. Grabbed something to drink and cheered on some of the remaining finishers. Wasn't really hungry so just went and found my Dad and headed on home.


My swimming ability/mental accuity and hamstring tightness. Pretty sure I could've pushed the hammy but with my main goal race coming up in 5 weeks I didn't want to deal with a balky hammy after this race. Overall happy with my race (everything but the swim) and I cut over 7 minutes off my time from my 1st. Hope to get under 1:15 at NJ State.


Liked the race a lot. Was organized and on time and will probably do this one again next year if sprints are still my game.