Parvin State Park Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I have no idea what is up with this swim! The time just makes no sense at all. Almost two minutes slower than Belleplain three weeks ago and I would absolutely swear that I swam no differently today than I did then. In fact, I'd argue that I actually swam more today (as opposed to backstroking, sculling, breast and dog paddle). Now, I never really got into much of a rhythm (I never do), and I always took plenty of time to breathe when I'd roll, but I certainly don't think I was any worse than three weeks ago. I'm thinking either this course was longer than claimed, or all the others have been short. Here's why: two years ago, first tri at Marlton Lakes, I swam maybe two strokes, dog paddled and sculled the rest of the way, and finished in just over 14 minutes. There's no way, at an equal distance, I could swim so much more, as I did today, and finish even slower. Now, I did miss one of the buoys and I had to retrace a little, and I got off line on the final leg, but neither of those were for very long, just a few seconds at most. I know when I made the last turn and was headed in, I thought, "Man, that beach is one hell of a long way off."

Regardless of the measurement, and I'm just guessing it was more in the way of 480-500y, I still seem to have trouble with breathing. I made it a point to exhale underwater, but I'm still gasping when I roll to breathe, so I was never able to take a quick breath and roll back down. My initial plan was to stroke and glide, swimming slow, out to maybe the first buoy, and I did OK, but everything, if not actually falling apart, got "loose" after that. Got beat up a little too when the other waves started catching up with me.

I don't even know anymore. I've tried to take the approach of spending almost every day in the water, even if it's just 15-20 minutes of doing drills in the backyard pool, and I've actually been of the opinion that I'm swimming better. And then this! I guess all I can do is keep doing what I'm doing, and I probably will, but I'm certainly not going to do anything more when I don't seem to be getting any benefit out of it. More time on bike and run seems to pay more benefits.

I actually thought this took longer than it did; I figured I was over three minutes because I had trouble getting the wetsuit bottoms off my heels and then difficulty with the bike shoes. My socks went on OK but I struggled a little getting the bike shoes to cooperate and get the heels up and on. I put the Garmin on, but forgot to start it, so I have no independent record of my bike time. And I never checked whether the bike computer was actually working after putting the wheels back on in the parking lot before the race...it wasn't. I'd also planned to take my little disaster box with a spare bike tube and the Tufo tool.

Not a whole lot since I did better than I thought here. I need to practice taking the wetsuit bottoms on and off.

This was a great bike ride, and my personal best. I don't know if it was because I was riding in a group and had people to challenge me, or if I just rode good. Interesting that I had in inoperable bike computer and I forgot to turn on the Garmin, so I had no objective clue or stat to measure how I was doing. But I felt like I was doing great and I was never really that uncomfortable. All day long, before I saw the results, I kept thinking I was going to be really disappointed if I didn't have a good bike time. Good to see that the actual jives with my on-road perceptions. This is the kind of ride I've been expecting out of myself.

I'd actually planned a strategy by reviewing the ride on Google Earth the night before. I figured when we made the turn onto Big Oak Road after three miles, that I could just hammer for the four miles until we made the next turn, and then hammer on that road for the next three. I stayed pretty close to plan; got slowed up by getting into some heavy groups behind some riders who were also trying to pass slower riders. Rather than force the issue and sucking up on their wheels or crossing the yellow line, I backed off.

Not much. Maybe move to pass sooner than I actually did.

I was 71st in the field here! If I could ever learn to get out of my shoes before transition I could maybe go under a minute.

Nothing, really. Maybe start removing shoe straps early, or getting out of shoes altogether.

Not that great a run. I maintained a fairly decent pace for probably the first half, but it tired me out. I walked through the water stops (15-20 seconds each) to get HR down, didn't help much. I really started hurting after mile two, actually got a stitch in my side and had to slow down...tried to pick it back up the last .3 to .4. I was cooked when I crossed the line, just sort of stumbled to the chip guy and had to lean against a table to get my breath. I'm disappointed by the pace because I'd hoped to be able to crack the 9:30 mark this year, but it hasn't happened yet. However, I have to say I finished with pretty much nothing left in the tank.

I think I need to start doing some sort of run after every bike ride (except hill climb rides). I started doing this last year at some point but haven't had time this year yet but to do short bricks (10-12 minutes) after my "long" weekend ride.

Caught my breath, sucked down a bottle of Endurox while eating a bagel with PB and, later, a banana. Walked around a bit to catch the breeze off the lake until they put up the unofficial times. We left after that.


I want to say the swim - and I'd certainly like to do better here - but even if I'd cut two minutes off the swim my overall place would've moved maybe 10 spots. Even if I'd averaged 20mph on the bike, I'd have moved up only three spots. Going to 9/mm on the run would also have saved just two minutes overall. Even so, I think my best bet is to keep pushing on the bike and the run, because I think that's where I get the most bang for the buck. But hey, I've at least managed to work my up to the front of the BOP.


I like this event, although I still want to whine about the swim (which I think was longer than claimed, doggone it!). I've now done three of the DQ venues (Belleplain twice, Marlton Lakes twice, and now Parvin) and I really like this one; good one to put on the calendar every year. I can't complain about the DQ races...they do a nice job and their events are a good time, plus they give you so many events. I'd like to see bigger crowds (like they have at Marlton Lakes), but 235 isn't bad.