Key Biscayne Triathlon Trilogy - Race #1 - TriathlonSprint

this was a rough swim!! especially the start...they had over a hundred of us crammed in this little chute about 30 feet wide along the beach. when the gun went it was a mad dash for the first buoy only about 50 feet out. so you had a hundred guys all head for the same confined space and making for a real washing machine. I got kicked, punched, blind sided, my goggles and nose plug were knocked off...you name it. but I got a good start and by the time we rounded the buoy I was with the lead pack and only had a couple more contacts. the water was warm, clear, no chop or current and perfect for just turning on the steam and swimming fast. very happy with my performance. overall I was 94/777

not much other than try to get an even better start and try to avoid the crush

there was a very long run from the beach to transition that's included in the time. my actual T1 was pretty fast when I arrived at the bike. I quickly rinsed off my feet threw on my glasses and helmet and I was off. getting on the bike was a different story. I was trying the pro trick of having the shoes on the bike and using rubber bands to keep the shoes from dragging, which worked great until I tried to jump on and my right shoe dug into the ground in front of me bringing the whole thing to a halt. I had to stop and jump on to get going...not cool. once on it was fairly easy to get into the shoes but I'm going to spend some time practicing this whole thing before the next race

more bike mount practice

I really wanted to go all out on this bike split. the plan was to average 20 mph even if it meant sprinting and chasing down anyone who passed me. the first .25 of the race went well but then we hit a head wind that slowed me below 20. coming up to the the big bridge I noticed a car in our path and someone laying in the road. another rider had stopped and was warning us to slow down. as I got closer it became apparent that the rider had hit this car and landed some distance beyond it. he was lying on his back with a large pool of blood forming around his head...not a pretty site, I felt like stopping but there were several cops there and I'm not qualified to help anyway. I ended up riding over the bridge much slower than I know I can, due to a lack of momentum. once on the other side I didn't push very hard on the down hill in order to give my legs a rest for the return trip. after the u-turn there's a slight down hill then the bridge. I managed to gain some good speed and went about half the climb standing up and sprinting..passing several riders and not seeing them again. I was descending and started hearing the ambulance and fire engine sirens aproaching from behind. at the bottom of the hill we had to slow again because the truck was still accross the road and there wasn't much room to get around...also there were some recreational riders clogging up the pathway and oggling at the accident. from there we had a minor tail wind and I went as fast as I could but there was no way to make up for the lost time and my 20 mph goal was only 29 seconds short. still I'm very happy as I beat my previous best avg spd by .6 miles per hour.

just keep training...and about that bike?!?!?

good transition, things went smooth and as planned.

not much

here's where I ran into trouble. evidently I didn't drink enough water before the race and during the bike because shortly after the race started I got a bad cramp right in the middle of my gut. this was painfull and was really slowing me down. I hadn't taken any water in the first aid station so I had to wait until I cam back around to get some water which made the first mile no fun. I got some water and felt a little better but it wasn't until after the 2nd aid station I stopped and drank the whole cup of water that I was able to really run my race. by then I had been passed more than I should have.

gotta drink that water before the race

just beyond the finish line there's a fountain spraying some really nice cold water. I just stood there soaking and feeling great.


hydration and equipment.


I'm really looking forward to the next 3 races in this series to see how much faster I can go.