Black Bear Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I tried to get off the line quick and was on some feet right away (including a guy without a wetsuit who passed me--so I knew he had to be a strong swimmer). But I felt pretty rushed from there all the way around the first 2 bouys (maybe a third of the race distance). And rounding the second bouy, I somehow lost my draft. Suddenly, there was a big gap between the group ahead of me and myself. And there wasn't anybody right behind or around me to slip behind either. At least I started to get into a better groove with my stroke at this point. And I think I navigated reasonably well despite looking straight into the sun off the water.

*Note: Swim time is from my watch as I crossed the mat (maybe 100yds from the water). Swim placement includes T1 which got rolled into the swim for the results.

Try to settle into my stroke quicker and make sure I accelerate around the bouys to hold the draft.

Long uphill run to transition. I stopped just over the mat to remove my wetsuit. Not as bad as Harriman, but still had some troble getting it off my feet. Then carried it as I jogged up to transition (removed cap & goggles along the way). Dropped the swim stuff, slipped on my socks & shoes. Put my sunglasses and helmet on and ran with my bike out to the mount area (you had to mount inside a box on the road).

Get that $^#&$& wetsuit to peel off my feet easier! :-)

Once I got up to speed, I felt pretty good. I passed a bunch of riders over the first couple miles. There was a bigger gap up to the next couple of riders I could see, but I kept closing the gap steadily.

As I was getting closer up a long climb, decided to take a drink. My bottle slipped out of hand and fell. Damn! Had to stop, dismount, skate down the hill on my cleats to grab it before it started rolling down the hill, remount and start climbing again. I was stopped for about 20 seconds and with lost momemtum, this probably cost me 30 seconds or so.

It took me quite awhile to finally catch up to those riders again. After the stop, I was still riding a hard effort but my power seemed to be lower. Hard to blame the stop for that, so I think my legs were just running low on juice by then (about 7-8 miles into the ride).

Kept pushing as well as I could and when I was passed by a 16yo up a hill, at least I had some motivation to keep at it (since I could no longer see any of the other riders out ahead on the course). The kid was strong & light. I could catch & pass him on the flats & descents. But I could see that it ticked him off that somebody was catching him and as soon as the road turned up he would literally fly by me and open up huge gaps on the climbs.

Finished the ride closing back in on him and another rider.

Not drop my water bottle. And drink a little more from it over the ride.

Pretty smooth except that I started running down the wrong aisle--cost me a few seconds at most.

Not enter the wrong aisle.

Started out trying to run steady, but knew that my legs weren't quite at full power. Didn't have a big effect until the one major climb in mile 2. No worse than hills I'm used to at home, but really dragged me down. After that, I really struggled to get my pace back up even though I could see the 16yo out ahead of me, as well as two others closing on me from behind. Best I could do was hold steady over the final mile-and-a-half.

I probably could have caught the 16yo if I had pushed. Not much more than that though.

Walked around and chatted with some other athletes while getting something to eat and drink. Saw Tim (konichiwa) who had a great race and met Laura. Also saw Ron again. He seemed convinced a wetsuit might be a good investment.

Hung out for the award ceremony.


Good question. Legs just weren't quite all there on the bike. Maybe the swim took more out me than I thought. Maybe I'm not as recovered from Harriman as I think.


Nice race. Tough, but fair, course. Well organized and good support. I'd like to try the half one day, but there's no way I'd do it 2 weeks after Harriman.