Foothills Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon

I was very happy with my swim place. I probably started too far back, but I watched people who were probably in the first 1/3 in the water who couldn't make it 2 lengths without stopping, so it might have been even worse there. Anyway I passed several people, which is rare for me, and didn't get passed. All of my passes were uneventful as well, nobody was blocking and people were yielding to faster swimmers, which was nice. I did kick one guy once, I think his breast stroke arm met my frog kick leg, but that was the only contact I noticed. I was pretty pleased with my ability to keep my breathing and my stroke and pass people without too much trouble.

I don't know, maybe start a little further up, but at Trideltathon I started too far up and struggled when people were passing me, so this seemed to work out better. Anything top half is a pretty good swim for me, so I'm pretty happy with 99 out of 213. Last year I was 8:41, 166th overall

There's a decent run from the pool mat to transition, so I was really happy with this time. The fastest was 55 sec, so I wasn't far off. Basically got out of the pool, ran to transition, threw down the goggles, grabbed my helmet, glasses, and bike, and headed out. I had a pretty good moving mount with the shoes already clipped on the bike and was getting going nicely, but a guy in front of me was having all kinds of trouble and weaving back and forth in front of me, so I almost stopped to keep from hitting him. Once I got around him I got up to speed pretty good, and eventually put one shoe on, then the other a little later. Not great, but not horrible either.

Not be stuck behind a guy who is struggling and weaving I guess, but not much I could do about it. I got around him as quickly as I could. I still need practice getting in my shoes, but I've really improved on transitions. Last year I was 2:25.

It doesn't seem possible, but 3 different times on the way back in I got stuck behind cars who wouldn't pass bikes. At one point a girl in front of me crossed the yellow line and passed about 5 or 6 cars because there were slow bikes in front and the cars wouldn't go. When she went, I went right behind her. Another time I almost stopped to keep from running into the back of a car. I was literally about to unclip and put my foot on the ground when the car finally went around the bike in front. Very frustrating. I was really hoping to average 20, and was over 20 until I started braking for cars. The last part is uphill so I might not have made it anyway, but the cars eliminated any possibility for me. I averaged 19.3 according to my meter. I passed a bunch of bikes, 5 or 6 cars, and didn't get pased. I was 35:32 last year, but dropped a chain and took a minute or two to get it fixed, so probably about a minute faster than last year.

No idea. I saw Chris again as we were leaving and asked him if there was any strategy for dealing with cars who won't go, and he said there's not much you can do. I need to handle the frustration better, and just push harder. "If at first the game - or the breaks - go against you, don't let up... put on more steam." - Gen. Robert R. Neyland

Very happy with my transitions. I had a very good leg over step off run. I dismounted a little early, but there was a guy in front of me who looked very unsure, and I didn't want to be stepping over if he made a sudden move. I hit the ground running and ran right by him. I was 1:17 last year.

If nobody was in front of me I would dismount later, but that's about it. I think my T1+T2 was at least top 10 overall.

I had hoped for 20 minutes but didn't know if that was do-able with the hills. I was 19:59 by my watch, but I guess I had a quick trigger, they had me at 20:01. I was 23:32 last year, so a big improvement. Still got to get a lot better here to improve. The run is a constant mental battle for me. I do pretty good on the bike pushing thru when I get tired, but on the run I want to just stop.

Just keep training on the run and trying to get better a little bit at a time. This was a good run for me, but not good enough.

Grabbed a water and laid down on a towel in the shade. Wendy checked the results and found out I was 4/28 in my age group, which I was pleased with. I was almost 10 minutes faster than last year.


Stupid car drivers who wouldn't go around slower bikes.
Limited swimming ability.
Limited running endurance.
Not winning enough mental battles during the run.
Still probably the best race I've ever had.


Enjoyed the race, nice job by the RDE crew and volunteers.