Desert Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon

Did my traditional "Count to 10 after the gun, slowly start swimming." Everything was fine until I started catching up to the stragglers in my wave, then I started worrying about getting kicked in the face, which resulted in too much looking up and too much side-stroke. Eventually I found an open spot and was able to swim a little bit, but by this point had killed my momentum.

It finally dawned on me that I'm not the slowest guy in my AG and that I need to start closer to the middle of the pack and just swim. I'd rather get passed since I'll be less likely to get a foot to the face that way.

Fastest T1 in 5 years at this event for me, but still slow. But this transition is never about speed for me--it's more about celebrating the fact that the swim is done!

Try to move a little faster.

This was the first time I focused on cadence rather than speed. Target was 80-90 and I was at 84 so that was great. I felt like I passed more people than passed me. I would've been a few seconds faster but I stopped after about 2 miles because my cadence sensor was clicking the spokes and was going to drive me crazy listening to that for 14 miles. I also knocked one of my gel packets out of my pocket a couple miles in, but luckily i had a second one.

Check my equipment BEFORE the start of the race!

I usually see transitions as a quick break and a time to get mentally prepped for the next leg, not something to be rushed.

Change my attitude when it comes to transitions, which could probably easily shave 3 minutes off my overall time.

2013 was a big running year for me and it reflected in this performance as it was my best run split ever (and better than last year's by 6:26!). Negative splits, too!

Nothing, really. I was pretty happy with this

Ate some orange slices, cookies and lots of water. Took me 3 years to figure out I wasn't hydrating enough AFTER the race so I go the other way now.


My inability to overcome my face-kicking fear. I've also been battling a pinched nerve in my neck for a month leading up to the race, although it didn't really affect me on this day. I had zero expectations coming into the race because of this, and that appeared to have a positive impact on my performance.


My family loves this race, so next year will make it our 6th annual pilgrimage to La Quinta!