J-Hawk Early Bird Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was the first of 3 swimmers to go in lane 1. I went off and was keeping up with people in the next lane. I was doing well but I never felt like I was grabbing water like I can. Just felt like my arms were slipping a bit and not grabbing with the forearms. Even with that, I felt pretty good in the water. Cought the girl in my lane that started third at the 400 mark. Didn't get a chance to draft since there was no one in front of me but I was happy with this time. First in the age group and 13th fastest overall is very good.

I have been hitting the pool pretty hard lately going 3x per week including 1:15 yesterday. I was probably a bit tired but I didn't want to rest for this with one of my main races of the season in one week. Very happy with this.

I need to practice transitions. I put on the glasses helmet and race number on and put a gel pack in my pocket and almost forgot to put the shoes on. Had not practiced the shoes already on the bike yet, so put them on and ran to the bike mount line.

Practice, practice, practice.

This was probably the windiest I have ever ridden in. The winds were primarily out of the west to slightly southwest. Was going along great thinking my speed was good even though it was very strong crosswinds. Turned to go east and the wind was at my back so I just started flying. When I turned to head into the wind however, it was awful. Riding with the wind at my back, I was not going all that hard but was well over 30mph but going into the wind, I had to go in a small gear and was giving it all I had but only managed about 13! Riding north and south I was constantly riding at an angle and was almost blown over a few times. The winds were sustained about 25 with gusts well over that. This was a very difficult ride.

Throughout the entire bike segment, only 3 people passed me. There was one point where I was coming up behind someone and was going to make a pass when they ran over a stick which broke in half and flew up in the air almost hitting me. About a mile out I was going to take that gel packet I had put in my pocket, but it was not there. It must have fell out somewhere. At the end of the bike I was going uphill into the wind just srtuggeling and when I crested the hill I forgot all about my plan to get out of the shoes and leave tham on the bike to run to my transition area. It was too late plus there was no one at the dismount line so I was not sure where it was so I just hopped off the bike and rand in my shoes to my spot.

Not much I could do with that wind. Like I said before, I didn't rest for this race.

Just like the first one, I almost forgot what I needed to do. I took off my shoes, put on the running shoes and was about to go out for the run. One last look around and I realized - oh yes - take off the helmet!!

Again - practice, practice, practice.

After getting beat up on the bike, I took off at a pace I felt I could maintain but still pushing it. I was suprised when I saw that pace was well under 7 minutes per mile. In the first mile, there was a big uphill then a turn into the wind so it was a pretty tough first mile but I kept the pace. Through the woods and across the wooden path I was going at a good clip. As soon as the wooden path ends, there was a good sized uphill and I was read to through in the towel. I didn't. When the top of the hill came, I was able to get into a good pace again and turn it on. When I exited the woods and entered the athletic fields again, we turned into that dreaded wind. Another big mental push to get through that. When I went down that last downhill and had the finish line in sight, I gave it all I had. Passed Jenny and the kids along the way. Down the home stretch I glanced at the watch and I was going just under 6:00/mile pace! I pushed through the finish and it felt great!

The only thing I could have done was rest for this. Yesterday I did an 11.5 mile run in an hour and a half after swimming for over an hour. I was floored when I saw that I was 3rd in my age group and 14th overall for the run segment. Awesome!!

Walked around a lot. Took the family to Toppers Pizza for lunch and came back for the awards.


Just resting, but with my half marathon in less than a week, this race was just a warmup for that so no resting for this race.


This was a great race. I got a PR beating my old PR in a sprint distance (which was this race last year) by 1:17!