From the Race

Here's a recap from Saturday's race, Buster Britton Sprint Triathlon (400yrd swim, 13mi bike, 3.1mi run).

Swim - 400yards

It went well enough. Minor problem getting started though. I took out from the beach, took my leap into the water to get going, and had to quickly pop back up and start over. My goggles decided to come off, leaving me blind on the swim. After fixing the goggles, I went into cruise mode and felt good. Started making my passes and gaining ground the best I could.

Since we were seeded based on our projected swim finish time, it was easy to determine if I was making ground. When I saw that I was catching #106 out of the water, I knew immediately I had gained 6 places and felt really good. Time: 6:50.

T1

Took my run out of the water, up the stairs, and to my bike getting ready for the ride. Felt really good and tried to get my heart rate settled. Threw on the bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses, and out I went. I really need to work on having the shoes already attached to the bike.

Bike - 13mi

Absolutely hammered that course. Felt great on the bike, and took full advantage. Passed numerous people, put distance on several others and couldn't have gotten too much better. The only issue I had is that somehow my bike chain had come off while my bike was sitting in the transition area. A minor fix at the beginning and I was back in business. Regarding hammering that course, I averaged 18.8mph, where my best Time Trial was barely 18mph and had a time of 41:48.

And how good looking is that bike?

T2

Here's where I had a few issues. Remember that Garmin that I had, that got run over a couple weeks ago? Well I haven't gotten it set back up on the quick release (call me gunshy) yet, so it took some time to get it loose from the bike. I also came in to the rack too fast and overshot my transition spot and had to backtrack just a bit. I still managed to get out in 1:23, so it wasn't too bad.

Run - 3.1mi

It went downhill from here. It was hot. The first and last .75mi were in the sun, along the road, out of the shade. I took off well and felt good. I hit the water stops and started putting water on me to help cool down because it was HOT. Followed the crowd and just tried to keep it together. Everytime I looked down at my watch, I noticed I was losing pace and wasn't meeting the goal I had set, but it was all I had. Hit the turn around, started the downhills, and then the heat really did me in. Stopped a second or two to relieve my stomach contents and then I finally felt better, but not great. Just held it together to get in and definitely didn't put up a great split. Finished in 30:40 (4:40 slower than 5k personal best)

Overall - 1:24:27

Finished 17/37 in the Male 25-29 age group and 124/290 among all males

Time to get ready for the next one!