Los Alamos Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Swim is the second event. Last year I could not catch my breath and ended up doing the backstroke the whole way. This year I took a few seconds to collect myself and control my breathing before jumping in. It worked - I was able to crawl the whole way. (Probably all the swim training helped as well.) Pool was very crowded, had to navigate my way around several backstrokers and breaststrokers. Practiced the "defensive crawl" using my forearms to protect my face from the kicks. Took *3 minutes* off of my swim time from last year.

Nothing.

T1 is Bike-to-Swim. T1 time included in bike. When I got to my rack a bike was laying down across my transition area and bag. I pulled it off and managed to get it balanced and get my bike racked as well. Removed helmet, beanie, sunglasses, socks and shoes. Grabbed goggles from my bag and I was off to the pool. You have to run about 100 yards from the bike rack to the pool entrance.


Learn to do the shoeless dismount.

Bike is the first event. This is a mass bike start, difficult to keep from drafting for the first half mile or so - then the climbing starts and the pack thins out quickly. I let a bunch of people go at the very beginning - passed many of them back going up the first big climb. Last year I ran out of gas during the climb on the return leg, this year I was able to pace myself better. You can really fly 40+mph on the downhills on this course, fun fun. Drank about 12 ounces of Carbo-pro during the bike ride. Finished the bike leg 41 seconds slower than last year.

T2 is swim-to-run. Popped out of the pool, jogged out to the transition area, located my stuff right away. Sat down, toweled feet quickly, pulled on socks and popped into the shoes. Made sure to stick goggles and towel back into my trans bag so that I did not lose them. Took a second to take a couple swigs of Carbo-pro. Grabbed hat and race belt and I was off.

Run went about as I expected. The first mile was a struggle trying to get into the groove. Really was feeling good about 2 miles in and then had just enough juice left to sprint the last 200m or so and pass about 10 people. Running down to the finish chute, the street is lined with spectators. A couple of people recognized me and started cheering and calling me by name, then it seemed like everyone else picked up on it and
started shouting my name. It was great! I felt like a celebrity. Sprinting across the finish is a great way to end a race. Took about 2.5 minutes off of last year's run time.

They block off one lane of the main roads for the run. A few road ragey motorists were observed by me during the run, having words with the traffic control officers and volunteers.

Walked around, grabbed a banana and changed into a t-shirt. Hung around for about 3 hours cheering in the later finishers, catching up with old friends, etc. Was addressing my fellow finishers as "triathlete" in typical BT style - people really seemed to like that, and would greet me in return in the same way.

It took a LONG time for any results to be posted. It appears that they were waiting for every single last person to finish before posting any of the times.

One interesting controversy that I overheard an athlete describing to the race staff - apparently a traffic control officer on the bike course STOPPED A GROUP OF BIKES DURING THE RACE FOR SEVERAL MINUTES so that some cars could go through the intersection. Needless to say this particular athlete was quite upset.


Still working on my endurance and speed. Interestingly, my time was 5th in the age group - but last year the same time would have been 16th in the age group. I guess it really is just a matter of who shows up on race day.


This is my hometown race so I will do it every year. That said, some aspects are good - good venue, good scenery, good post-race food - some aspects are mediocre - the delay in posting times, issues with traffic control.