Possibilities Triathlon

Two years ago Kylie and I met at this race, so it is now a permanent fixture on our annual race calendar.

It is another reverse order sprint triathlon, the distances are 5km run, 11 mile bike and a 150 yard pool swim. There is also a 5km race run concurrently with the tri. While it has a small race atmosphere with many first time triathletes there are also a few fast pros every year enticed by the $5000 prize purse.

The gun went off and right away a number of people flew to the front, some that should be at the front, and a few that fell off the pace within a couple hundred yards. I built into the run and ended up coming into transition in just under 17 minutes in 4th place overall.

I had a VERY poor transition, knocking one of my shoes off my pedal exiting transition. I have used the shoes on the pedal method for over 10 years and well over 50 races and this is the first time that has happened. While I was laying my bike down, going back to get my bike shoe and getting on my bike I was passed by Kate Major and Julie Swail (a week after she qualified for her 2nd Olympic games).

The bike course consists of three laps of a rolling course that has very little flat ground, so you are climbing or flying downhill at 27+mph. While nobody passed me on the bike I felt very flat and was not able to make up any ground on those ahead and did lose some time to those behind me.

Coming off the bike I was too far back to catch anyone in such a short swim so I got through transition and did the swim with very little pressure. I ended up going 51:25, 6th overall and first age grouper.

I was also taking a three day continuing education class this weekend so when I finished the race I grabbed my clothes, watched Kylie finish (3rd in her AG), showered and drove out to Palm Springs for the last day of my class. Kylie stayed for our triathlon club meeting and I picked her up after my class and we headed home in time for me to meet with my boss for a business meeting.

A VERY busy weekend, I was almost looking forward to the work week for a bit of rest ;-)