Dallas Athletes St. Patricks Day Sprint - TriathlonSprint

Was about 8 second interval starts. Picked up the first swimmer ahead of me after the first 50. Decided to pick a good spot to pass. I passed two swimmers around 125 into the swim. Didn't catch anyone else. No one caught up to me. Felt good. Might have gone a litte harder to get under 5 min, but overall, knew that I did well.

nothing.

Felt that I did really well. Caught up to Chris (karhooligan) at T1 and we left transition at the same time. Didn't waste anytime. No slip ups or time wasters.

nothing

On first loop, I was fine the first 2 or so miles. THEN...the bug returned from the night before. Took a few sips of my G-ade/water combo from my aero bottle. Moments later...those sips, along with some more fluid came up and out and onto the ground. Moments later, as Chris was pacing behind me, he caught and passed me, casually asking if I was ok...Sure, as long as throwing up while riding is normal! lol. He initially thought I had said "This is tough"...then realized I said "I threw up". He didn't miss a beat (as was the plan...individual sport race) and kept on going. after a few miles, I took a few more sips from my aero bottle...and sure enough...a few minutes later...it too decided that it wasn't comfortable inside my stomach...(yech x 2). Decided right then and there that the bike wasn't going to be a success. My HR, from what I could tell, was fine...my stomach ached...so I just kept my cadence average and PE in check. Once I got to the 2nd loop (about 1 mile into it), I seemed to 'catch my 2nd wind'...and decided to push it a bit...having had a dozen or so people passing me, I actually passed some of those same folks on the 2nd loop. That gave me some confidence that I would finish with my head held high. Fight through it! Oh, and moments afer the 2nd GI bout...I was coasting down one of the long downhill portions...some nice lady yelled out (as she passed on the left) that "NO COASTING ALOUD"...within seconds...she was well passed me...I got a bit upset...but realized that it wouldn't matter trying to catch up to her, explain my plight and fade back again...so I started pedalling again...realizing she was right...no time for breaks (at least not for another 45 minutes)...

Not have GI issue the night before and during the bike ride. As usual, get more hill work in.

Only had one slip up. When setting up transition pre-race, I neglected to put my run hat out so I had to search through two zipper pockets before realizing the hat was in the "main" compartment. Probably didn't cost me but 10 or so seconds, but it still bothered me some. Only other issue was my initial plan was to leave the shoes on the bike. Was somewhat confused as I entered the dismount line and had already loosened my shoes, two separate people were giving me instructions as to where I am supposed to dismount. So I wound up unclipping my shoes and running with my bike to my rack. Socks went on surprising well before slipping into my yankz tied shoes. Quite happy with that!

not forget to prepare my running hat. Successfully leave the shoes on the bike and running barefoot.

calf cramps at the onset of the run (typical for me). 100 yrds into run, stopped and stretched them out. Knew that I didn't have a PR in the works, so I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to not walk any, but may run slow. Calves felt good about 1 mile into run...kept, what I felt, was about a 10/min pace. Saw Chris shortly before the turnaround...gave my usual (finish strong) comment...made the turnaround and went at about a 9:30 pace to finish it.

It all stems from the bug, but due to not having been sufficiently hydrated, I believe this to be the cause of the calves cramping. Didn't have a choice though. Hydration = throw-up and I had done enough of that the previous 12 hours. Skipped the water aid station on the way out...decided to have some on the way back in. Amazingly, it stayed down. Having PR'd my stand alone 5k the previous week (24:46), didn't feel too bad with a sub 30 (under my personal conditions).

Got finishers medal (WTF? This is a sprint!). That was a cool thing to get. Hung out with BT'ers and Chris...attempted to throw down a pancake without throwing it back up (success - barely). Fetched my camera from transition area to capture some of the post-race moments.


GI issues previous night and during bike ride limited (prevented) any kind of hydration.


RD was hilarious as he MC'd the finish. Best joke heard (paraphrased): I named my dog Herpes, 'cause he wouldn't heal!

Thanks to all the volunteers. Once again, they made everything safe for us racers. Thanks to all the jockstrappers. Once again, they made everyone (me) feel like a champion! Thanks to my BT friends for your support!