Cedar Beach Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This was by far my tougest OPWs to date. The swim is located in the Long Island Sound, but the Perfect Storm must've been blowing somewhere out at sea. At my HIM in July we swam in the ocean and the swells today were easily twice the size. The course had us swimming 200 yards out to a buoy, then turning 90 degrees to the right and swimming dead against the current toward another bouy. Swimming for this buoy felt like it took forever! The waves were relentless and sighting was extremely difficult because you had to sight at the top of a wave or you couldn't see anything but water. Many times I had to turn my head and point my mouth completely at the sky to take a breath.

Once I (finally) got to the first turn bouy I got a little more in a rythym and plodded along. Further out the waves weren't as bad either. As much as the swim sucked, it was still a fun adventure. And the bottomline is everyone had to swim in the same conditions.

Practice more in extreme, choppy conditions - particlulary navigation and sighting. My left shoulder is still pretty weak from my shoulder separation. I need to focus on strengthening it over the winter.

My T1 was 19th overall best, and 1st in my AG.

Move even faster.

My last two tri's were in the rain, it was so damn nice to have dry streets. This is a two loop course. I know these roads and they're reasonably hilly with little flat stretches. My muscle fibers were screaming from having done a HIM a week ago, and spending the the last few days clearing brush on the side of a mountain. I took it a little easier than I should've on the bike, but the reality is my legs were sore and tired and I just gave it my best without completely killing myself. I focused on my form and my gear changes.

This was not an "A" or "B" race, this was an "L" race ... Last Triathlon of the year. It's around the corner from my house, it's where I train with my BT buddy's, I gave it my best on the bike.

During the winter I plan to spend a lot of time on the trainer. I know my biking is not up to par, and I know there is a lot of room for improvement.

Another perfect flying dismount. 68th overall. I could've been faster. The two bikes on either side of me were both facing the wrong way and I had to move both over just to wedge mine in. I have to get faster on the bike and then I won't have these problems.

Get faster on the bike. It's easier to rack a bike on an empty pole as opposed to have to wedge it in.

Ah the run. I busted out my racing flats for this one and I cruised the whole time. I had some painful stomach cramps and side stitches. Probably a combination of drinking a little bit of ocean water, a touch too much sodium, and a full bottle of gatorade on the bike.

I'm actually pretty happy with my run and I know if I hadn't cramped and came into this race fresh, I could've really had an unbeleievable time. But all things considered, my legs did not cramp at all and I just cruised.

I gotta remember - Less is More. Especially with a Sprint. I drank an entire bottle of gatorade, took one C2Max Gel, 1 S!Cap in the morning and that all combined for roughly 613mg of sodium ...still too much for my purposes and given the weather conditions. Granted I did not taste salt in my mouth and I didn't get nauseaus like last race, but I did get some serious, painful side stitching - which was probably from too much gatorade and I ate a little too much at breakfast (I forgot it was a Sprint and ate like it was an Olympic).

I'm not making excuses - but I did a HIM a week ago, and I spent the last few days doing a lot of physical labor, so my body and muscles were fatigued. This was also my 10th triathlon in this, my first year. After 4 Sprints, an Xterra, 3 Olympics and 2 Half Iron's I am physically and mentally spent. But overall I had a satisfying race, I had fun, and I'm glad I did it.

Over the winter my focus will be strengthening my swim muscles and logging lots of hours on the bike trainer.


The Cedar Beach triathlon is a fun, local, well run event. The swim was challenging, as was the bike, the scenery was georgeous - and really, I am so happy to have a great local tri race to look forward to every year.