The swim went OK. It seemed hard for some reason, maybe because I haven't swam much in the last few months. The water was pretty shallow and I walked a couple steps at one point just to maneuver in the crowd. There was a blind guy doing the triathlon and I was near him for most of the time. I could hear his guide shouting "left!", "straight!" at just about every stroke. That was kind of cool. I was passed by a few women from the next wave that started 5 minutes after mine. My chest felt a little tight but overall my breathing and everything went well. I never really got in a good groove and my arms felt weak, but I made it through in an average time. This was also one of the more physical swims that I've been on. Maybe it was because the river was kind of narrow so we were all closer together, or it was because I was more aggressive and didn't just let people get away from me because I was getting touched.

Swim lots. Work on technique for stronger arms.

(Time is estimated because it's included in the official bike split. I've subtracted this time from the bike split.)

Climbed the steps up out of the river. Fumbled with my wetsuit pullstring. Finally got it as I was running to T1. Luckily I had lots of space in T1 (relatively) and I had enough towel exposed that I didn't have to rinse my feet off, just wipe them as I was standing on the towel. I got my wetsuit off as I was putting on my glasses, head/ear band, and helmet. Then socks and shoes. I had my shoe straps started but they were too tight and I had to fiddle with the heel of the first shoe and undo the strap on the second shoe.

One of the nice things about this race is that they allow riding in the transition area. So I hopped on my bike right there at my T-area and rode out.

Leave the shoes unstrapped. Run faster (I walked a little). I also need to figure out the best place to put my wetsuit strap. I noticed there's a little piece of velcro on the end but I'm not sure where it goes.

I was very pleased with my bike leg. Because it was draft legal, I latched onto a good draft group and was able to average over 20mph. A lot of it was more like 22-24mph and even got up to 30mph down the small hills. Again, I think I was drafting behind the blind guy because he was drafting off of someone who was not only very strong (led the draft group), but kept saying "left", "right", and describing what was coming. I can't imagine going that speed and not being able to see. Amazing!

I don't have a lot of experience with drafting but it was a lot of fun. Some of the time I was within inches of the wheel of the guy in front of me and there was shifting left and right as the person ahead of you changed their speed. We had no problems and I heard later that there were a few people behind me as well (I didn't look back to see). It was like being in a peloton. We would go by people like a train. It was cool!

It was pretty windy (15mph?) so I would have died if I was alone or in front. I was already pushing it trying to keep up with the draft group. There were only a couple of opportunities to latch onto someone faster and I took one of them, but ended up with the same draft group toward the end because they caught up with me again. I guess one of the dangers of drafting is that you're stuck with the speed of whomever you pick. That could be good or bad.

Well, I was going to say I could have drafted off the faster guy that passed one time, but I'm not sure that would have been a good thing or not. So... nothing. Oh, I should have drank more.

(Time is estimated because it's included in the official bike split. I've subtracted this time from the bike split.)

Riding into the transition spot made T2 even faster. Not much to say here. Just the usual. Removed helmet and headband, changed shoes, grabbed everything and headed out.

Nothing.

My legs were heavy for longer than usual. I haven't been doing as many bricks as I used to so that explains it. I was pushing hard and wasn't really able to drink much on the run. Good thing it was only a Sprint because if it was an Oly or longer I would have been toast because I didn't drink enough on the bike either. No real strategy other than to push as hard as I could.

More speed work. More bricks.

Drank a few bottles of Cytomax, walked a little, then hung around the finish line until my buddy came through (Yes! I won the bet! I can taste that free dinner now!).


Run and bike speed work, bricks, swim technique, weight.


I'm not that pleased with this race director. After doing a few J&A and other races, these guys seem mediocre in pretty much every way. They seem to cater to the beginner and hold a lot of races in the area, but I may not be giving them much of my money next year. The only thing I like about them better than J&A is they use the hanging bike racks rather than the little wheel triangle bike racks.