New Jersey State Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

I started out feeling great... then I swallowed some water. I just couldn't get it back after that point. Just wanted to get out of the water and get on the bike. I was out of breath but I wasn't tired in the least and I was looking forward to the bike.

Practice, Practice, Practice! Just made a deal with my buddy's GF last night to trade swim lessons for cycling lessons.

T1 was fine but the transitions area was HUGE! With both a sprint and an olympic using the same transition area there were over 2000 participants. Actually amazingly organized. Someone two bikes down had put a ballon on their rack so it was easy to find my bike but I struggled with my socks... still riding and running with socks. My dogs aren't ready for bare foot tri's just yet. I actually passed a lot of people running through transition. It kind of made me feel uneasy like I was doing something wrong so I backed off a little... I guess people in transition are still fair game right?

Ok... where to begin. Realized last Thursday night (3 days before this event) that my racing bike had a cracked steered tube. Surprising both myself and my wife... I DID NOT HAVE A MELTDOWN. I grabbed my Trek 7.5 fitness out of shed and gave her a tune-up. Swapped out the saddle and took it for a test ride. Not bad but this bike is at least 10 lbs heavier than my Tarmac and geared differently. Not a slow bike but not as fast and different. It is what it is. My time is not bad for the circumstances but I could've done better. My swim slow and I was in the 7th wave so I speant my entire ride passing people. I can't think of a stretch where I wasn't passing someone. At times this was frustrating because we got 3-wide or someone would be hogging the left side of the lane but it was fun. I just hope to improve next year.

This was a huge transition area with over 2000 competitors. Just took a while to get from dismount to my rack. This was my first time riding on top of my shoes and jumping off a moving bike during the race. It was surprisingly efficient but I think I bruised my left forefoot a little. Overall it went well. I will continue to practice this as I believe it is a huge advantage.

This was a PR for me in the run leg. After a couple minutes everything started to flow. The first half of the run felt effortless so I decided to turn it on for the last half and sprint the last 50 yards to the finish. I don't know if I could've gone faster or not but I was definitely holding back chunks when I crossed the finish line. There were a ton of kids volunteering and all I could envision was me throwing up on a group of kids. I worked my way out of the crowd and got my stomach to settle. It was a good run.

Push a little harder on the first 1/2.

Short stretch and some water. Grabbed the complimentary lunch and wen to sit in the shade. I came solo to this event so I ended up talking with a couple families waiting for their athletes to finish.


If anything it's still my lack of confidence in the water. I think a good swim would give me the adrenalyn to do everything else even better.


I would say was a great race and worth the travel (3 hours each way for me). I hope to come back next yea and bring some friends to participate with me.