TriZou (formerly Merrill Lynch Race For Sight) - TriathlonSprint

So, this is a rare race in that it is a pool swim, but being early May, this is almost necessary since most lakes are probably 50 degrees right now.
They had us line up according to estimated swim times. I lined up in the 5:15 swim time, with about 5 other people. They took us over to the start and we waited while the "elite" triathletes went first. I would have beat all but two in the elite wave swim portion, so I kindof wish I would have volunteered myself for the 4 min swim time, since they got to go with the elite wave. All was good though. They had us go 10 seconds apart, we had to walk up to the edge of the pool and jump in. They wouldn't allow us to dive. It was a "snake" swim, where we went down the lane, then under the lane rope, to the next lane. . 8 lanes total, so 400 meter swim or 440 yards. I ended up passing 3 people. Swimming in the pool was really cool, it reminded me of swimming in college again. Between the othe competitors getting ready to swim and the spectators, it was a packed place.

Nothing really, besides put myself up in the "fast" group. The swim times are a little distorted, since they don't have a timing mat when you get out of the pool, instead it is at the entrance to the Transition area, which is probably 200 yards or more from the pool My real swim time was 5 minutes 27 seconds. . .took me a while to figure out that they didn't stop the swim time till we hit T1.

Ok, if you look at some of the guys that beat me, they have freaky fast T1 times. . I need to get my act together in T1. . With T1 and T2, they cost me about 2 minutes overall. . which would have put me close to top 10.

Since it was the first Tri of the season, I will cut myself some slack, but I had a horrible time getting my shoes on. I put my race belt on in T1, not sure I really had to till T2. Just mental mistakes.

I started off on the bike and had a goal to catch two guys that passed me coming into T1. I hit the bike and tried to get up to speed quickly, but about 200 yards into the bike there was a very sharp turn, followed by a couple more sharp turns. . I am glad there were not a ton of people out on the course otherwise that could have been bad. I got into an ok pace and was feeling decent, although the lactic acid was building up and I knew I had to flush it out. Then came the first hill, not really steep, but really long. I couldn't shift down to my 39 in the front, and I was riding my 11-23 with Zipp disc on the back, so this was going to be a grind. That first hill took a lot out of me mentally, but I was able to catch one of the guys on it that got out ahead of me. After the first big hill, there were a lot of corners, probably too many for a triathlon, but hey . . variety is good sometimes. As I mentioned I was riding my disc for the first time and kept hearing a whoomp, whooomp behind me, so I kept thinking there was some guy riding a disc behind me coming on strong, till I figured out that it was just me. :) The second and last major hill back up to campus was a tough one. It was steeper than the first and about as long. It was definately a struggle to get up it.

The second loop was a littl easier since my legs were warmed up and I knew what to expect. There were a little more people on the course this time, but nothing bad. I had a goal to break 35 minutes but that didn't happen. . all in all I had a decent bike, not what I wanted speed/time wise, but not too bad considering the course.

Drive the course before hand.

Again, I lost about a minute here in time. Some guy actually had a 19 second T2. . not sure that is humanly possible. :)

Just focus more and get going.

All truth be told, this is what I was waiting for. I wanted to see if all the running I did over the winter would pay off. I wanted to hold sub 7 min miles and just to feel good overall.

I started off with a quick turnover and just tried to tell myself to push it and run hard. There wasn't really many people on the run course, there were some duathletes that were out there and I saw some elite racers out there, but no one else really. I did see a female elite at the mile 1 marker and tried to see if I could catch her (which I did at about mile 2). I felt good and just kept my pace up. Mile 1 time was 6:14 (although I think they had them mismarked somewhat). Mile 2 was 7:15 and mile 3 was 6:20. My average overall was 6:36 which made me pretty happy. The fast guys ran sub 6 minutes, so I still have a ways to go, but at least I am not running 7 min miles anymore. The good thing is that I felt as though I could have kept that pace up for a lot longer. Hopefully I feel that way when I actually have to. :)

Not much, the course was hard to follow sometimes, so maybe get a better feel for it, but it was a course that I couldn't really drive before hand and unless it was marked, you wouldn't know what to look for.

Finished and saw my wife. Kloden was with a friend in the pool as she was waiting for her husband to even start. Walked back to the pool area and talked with the other Bike Stop athletes.


Transitions!!!!


Good race overall. I think the bike and run course could use an overahaul though. Well organized and executed.

We didn't stick around for awards, because it took forever. That is one of my pet peeves. For a race that takes a little over an hour, shouldn't have to wait around for 4 hours to get awards. Or if someone wants to get their award before hand they should be able to. Oh well, it was just a bottle of wine, and I don't even drink. :)