I felt like I had a much better swim than I did. This seems to be a recurring pattern in sprint tris. :( I sighted very well, pushed myself within my capabilities and finished well. My garmin showed a bit better actual swim time of 1:52's but that still is not my goal pace for a sprint distance race.

Well, I guess I should be happy with my performance as I haven't raced a sprint since last year! I should DO my speed work in the pool instead of all OWS like I have been this season. I think I'll be racing more sprints next season as well to get my body used to the rhythm of the distance. It is definately not the same as IM! :)

Usually my t times are poopy...this race they helped get me to a top 10 place! This was a loooooooong run to transition, and my suit was a bit reluctant to come off...but I had practiced and was on auto pilot. Good thing because thinking in transition NEVER works for me. :)

Still need to speed up. I fumbled a bit with my helmet and should have practiced getting out of the QR suit more as I'd been swimming in Jo's Zoot all season.

The course map says a 13.4 bike on the elevation chart and a 20k below that. The pace on the official timing shows for a 20k, but I screwed up my garmin before starting the race and spent the first 3 plus minutes of my ride getting it reset to get power and my run data. The data I DID get shows a 12.46 mile bike, so....I feel a little better about my bike split. I think it was closer to 20mph than the 18.5! :) Everyone thought this was a slow sprint course for times...Even the fabulous Pammy didn't break 20mph on the bike!

I didn't have the garmin set properly when the race started (should have taken the extra time pre race to clear it all out and start over!!!) so I spent the first mile or so clearing it and reseting it to multi sport wanting to get my power data and run info. The course was a bit like a crit with all the turns at the beginning, but once I'd gotten my garmin going and hit the highway it was all good. I pushed pretty well (still room for improvement) on the course...playing leap frog with a gal in my AG was a good motivator...I ended up beating her into transition, which was cool. I almost puked once on the bike, spun up the hills well (thank you TTT and Lake Placid!) and pushed hard on the downhills. I even got cheered at by a car full of spectators that I THOUGHT were my teammates. It wasn't till I was in the beer tent post race with them that I realized it wasn't them! :) I took their energy and made it my own anyways!

I didn't pre ride the course (you really couldn't as part was on an expressway) and even though we predrove most of it I didn't quite have a feel for where I was on the course. I think that hurt me as I haven't raced sprint distance in so long coupled with the garmin snafu.

I will be racing more sprints next season to help my body KNOW the distance for worlds. Repetition really helps me in my racing. I will become much more familiar with threshold in those races. I will MASTER THE BLOODY MULTISPORT SETTING on my garmin, or trust my body to go without and not lose time during a race to get power and pace! :)

again, my t time helped me place in my ag, but I had an issue getting my shoes on and we were told to rack the bike as we'd done in the moring, so it was a tad awkward re racking. Not bad though for me, generally a slow poke in transition.

Practice more of course. :) I did run through practice quite a few times last week, but I should be practicing more often. Running sans socks didn't really get me the advantage I was hoping for in this race because of the shoes not going on well. It would have been worse with socks tho!

Holy crap! I didn't run at all in Burlington since my legs and hr were being fussy pre race with leftover fatigue from LP. Then I stubbed/broke my toe after the practice swim getting out of water. So no running. Fortunately the toe (while very ugly and swollen) didn't really bother me too much on the course. I got going and saw Pat my teammate ahead of me...my coach was on the evil hill telling me to chase him, don't let him go, go get him...and I was heavy breathing and closing the gap...I think maybe he was afraid I'd have a heart attack and fall on him and take him out of the race! :) We crested that nasty hill together (at about mile .5) and that was the end of my hanging with Pat! :)I walked through the aide station at mile 1 and dumped water on my head and had a little drink...it cost me time, but my hr was super high. The rest of the run I kept thinking "Push...Push it's only a sprint! Push!" At one point on the last mile, a bit off shore from the breeze, in the full mid day sun I just wanted to QUIT! WALK! What got me through was a quote from our team meeting the night before..."sometimes you've got to risk it to get the biscuit!" I just told myself...NATIONALS! Quit being a baby! You almost puked twice and didn't walk! Positive self talk...sort of. ;) I was finally seeing the shoot...I pushed it in...my teammates were there before the carpet and motivated me to go as hard as I could...I passed a guy in the last hundred yards. I had a bit of a kick, so I must not have put it all on the line.

There were lulls in my motivation to push hard, but my hr was pretty high throughout the race, and it felt HARD! I almost threw up twice, so that is a sign to me I was working pretty hard. I am pretty happy with this run considering the course, the time of day and the janky toe and just coming off an IM race in July. Do I want to improve?!? You bet. I'm kind of sick of being in the bottom half of the run in my AG, so this winter I WILL become a stronger runner!

I jammed my arms up to my shoulders in the icy water bucket that held the water bottles and just stood there trying to catch my breath! I hugged up Pat who'd just finished before me, got a hug from Ranger, Scribs, and Eric. Jules finished a bit behind me, we found Pammy and hit the food tent, then got some delicious beer compliments of Eric in the beer tent. 2 beers plus a hot sprint race equals tipsy Trish! :)


coming off of IMLP just a month before this race. Not racing the distance since last year, racing in the heat of the day. IMLP...nothing I could do about it, I could have raced sprints more and train more in the heat of the day, but life didn't really support that this year.


It is such a blast to be surrounded and inspired by such amazing athletes from all around the country! So much talent and speed!!! I am really happy to have had the chance to race with so many peeps from my team, to reach my goal of qualifiying for Worlds in New Zealand next year, to have so many shinannigans with "Mini Pat" (long story) and have so much support from Bonnie my coach and Hoop to take care of whatever we needed. Rooming with Pam was THE BEST! Of course, the road trip with Steve, Pammy, Ranger, and Captain Dave was most excellent! I am super lucky to have such a great group to race and train with, and go on excellent adventures with! :)