Redlands Triathlon

Kylie and I raced the Redlands Triathlon today for the second time. What a difference a year makes - last year it was cold and rainy, today was beautiful and sunny with a high close to 80 degrees.

The Redlands Tri is a reverse order triathlon with a 5km run, an 8 mile bike and a 100 yard pool swim. This race last year was my first overall triathlon win in 15 years of triathlon. With the better weather there was a lot more people racing this year and it also brought out better competition.

After a year of ironman training and racing the speed of the 5km was tough right from the start. There was a 5km race at the same time so there was a few other runners up front to run with. I finished the run around 17:20. There was one triathlete ahead and a couple others came into transition with me.

I had a quick transition and headed out on the bike in chase of the the leader. The bike was draft legal and a couple guys caught me in the first mile. I had a short break behind them but they had let the pace slow so I pushed back to the front. Two of us cycled through and we caught the leader by the turnaround. Over the next lap and a half each of us tried once or twice to get away but it wasn't going to happen so the race would be decided in the water.

After the ride I had a quick transition and got to the pool first. I was able to add a few seconds to my lead during the swim and defend my race win from last year in 45:10!

Kylie had a great race as well. She was over four minutes faster than last year and broke an hour!



Here is a picture Kylie took as I came back from the podium.