North Shore Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

The only gripe I had about this race is that they needed to break up the start waves a little. It was incredibly crowded for the men's wave for the fairly restricted swim area we had. I never had a moment where I wasn't bumping someone or getting bumped/kicked/slapped by someone. Despite other reports, I thought the water here was pretty shallow and there were plenty of reef scrapes amoungst the athletes to support that claim. I think the crowd impeded my first 200 yds of the swim.

You really need to get out in front of the group for the swim start. There is no starting on the edge and getting around the crowd.

Had a pretty good transition, not my best T1, but pleased. My main fault was that I missed my aisle where the front of my bike was, caused me to have to double back, seconds lost there.

Pay attention to my markers to get the right aisle

Not a bad bike leg. This was definitely where I made up my time. I passed a lot of people on this leg and only got passed by 2 (one was the overall female winner :) ).

Not much. A little more training to prep and build up speed.

My best T2 of any race. I ran without socks this time so my T2 time dropped significantly. Used some vasoline on the blister prone spots in the shoe and that really seemed to work. I have no blisters or even hints of blisters the day after the race.

Just practice.

Should have pushed a little harder the last 1/2 mile. Again, the guy who finished right in front of me just happened to be in my age group so I lost a place by just a few seconds. I felt pretty strong throughout the run. I spun my pedals in a low gear coming into T2 which I think helped my legs shift into run mode.

Need to add some speed work into my training routine. Got to stop letting the guy beat me in the last few secs of the race.

Walked, stretched, drank, snacked.


TRAINING!


Race needed some improvements. First off, 3 porta potties for 275+ athletes, their friends and family, spectators, and volunteers??? Not a good idea there. This caused the swim to start late while waiting for athletes to finish doing their pre-race business. There weren't tons of volunteers here, but the race course was so simple and short, they really didn't need tons. I think they had just enough. It woould have been nice if the results sheet also had Age Group placings as every other Tri I've done has had. There was also some silliness going on during the awards ceremony. All in all though, I had a good time and will probably do this one again.