I was originally going to do the Olympic distance race on Sunday, but I was heading to Tahoe with the fam on Saturday afternoon, so I decided to do the Sprint Triathlon instead. This is the same race where I did my first triathlon in June of 2005, which also happened to be the last time I did a sprint distance tri. I was looking forward to going all out to see how I could do in a shorter race about speed and not endurance.
Prerace was uneventful. I picked up my stuff and got my transition area set up. I was racing on a loaner bike, but had my saddle and my race wheels. I was also planning on trying my new speedsuit in the water. Normally I would wear a wetsuit, but Louisville is no wetsuits, and I got this speedsuit at a HUGE discount, so I thought I'd give it a try. My swim was a tad disappointing in that I thought I would've been a touch faster. I was on the beach in 15:20 and heading up towards T1. My transition was not particularly fast. I did take the time to put on socks, which for a sprint is probably not necessary. I've just never tried it without.
Swim: 15:21
T1: 2:33
Now I was off on my bike. The Cervelo loaner I've got from the bike shop fits me pretty well and my plan was to hammer as hard as I could, since this was a sprint distance race. The course is 16 miles out and back. On the way out of the park I was going hard and getting into a rhythym, except there are a few turns as you leave the park. Out on the main road, I knew the wind was at my back and it would be a little harder on the way in. I kept pushing and was passing people left and right. I made it to the turnaround in 19:30, and headed back. On the way back, it was definitely more windy and slightly more hilly (more uphill than on the way out). I got back to the transition area in about 40:20, so I lost about 2 minutes off my pace on the way back, but still not bad. I averaged 23.7 for the 16 miles and did an average of 292 watts. I figure that's right about where my FTP is. I got into the transition area, took my helmet off, put my shoes and hat on and took off.
Bike: 40:20
T2: 1:00
The run is an out and back 3 miler on a fire road around the lake. No big hills, but some undulating terrain. My legs were a little wobbly at first, but after about the first 3-4 minutes, I settled into a good pace. I got to the first mile mark in about 6:20 I think. I kept pushing and passed a couple more people in my age group. I was to the turnaround in about 9:50. On the way back I kept pushing hard as I wanted to break 20:00 for the run. I finished off the run in 19:13 (~6:24 per mile pace). Amazing to think that the pros do this pace (or faster) for a marathon!! And that's after riding 112 miles!!
Run: 19:13
Overall: 1:18:35
Overall place: 12th
AG place: 2nd
When I did this race in 2005, I did this course in 1:39, so I cut 21 minutes off that time in 4 years. Not too bad for a sprint! It felt good to go hard for a short distance and see how much speed I have. I'm still not as fast as the real speedsters, but have definitely gotten faster.
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