Going for the 3-peat! This sprint has gotten faster every year, and I was excited to see where it would stack up. The first time I raced in 2018, I didn’t know anyone in the area and was still new to triathlon. I surprised myself by winning with a time of 1:08:34, 2:56 ahead of 2nd. In 2019, I started to see some familiar faces. I had gotten significantly faster and really tuned in my transitions. I went 1:05:50, winning by 4:45. Even though I was much faster, the field stepped up as well. But this year was the fastest yet, and I knew my top competitors this time. In this race my 2018 time would’ve placed me 4th, and my 2019 time would’ve been 2nd.
Pre-Race: I was undecided on wearing my new Zone 3 swim skin or my wetsuit. Since I was at the first bike rack, I only had 25 yards from swim out to remove whatever I chose to wear. I’m slow with wetsuit removal, but I knew I wanted the speed advantage to get out hard and not pull my competitors along. As luck would have it, my wonderful friend Clara offered me her core shorts. Yes, I wore a pair of borrowed women’s shorts for the race. I had never tried them before, but I was confident there wouldn’t be issues.
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| Rocking the Women's Shorts |
Swim (7:02 - 2nd): They allowed us to do a wave start for those that wanted to start at the same time. I loved this format as it allows you to truly see your competition. They were a little awkward with starting the race and I ended up in a poor position and had to navigate through the first row of swimmers. I swam much harder than in previous sprints, and it paid off being 2nd out of the water.
T1 (1:10 - 2nd): Thanks to Clara’s core shorts, it took no time to get them off and my bike gear on. With my rack being the first one, I had the longest distance to run with my bike. And, with the start of the bike being gravel, I opted to put my shoes on at the rack. I didn’t want to end up with up rocks in my cycling shoes. The transition was thick grass, so I didn’t have much issue running in the cleats. I came out of transition in 1st and took off hard.
Bike (35:45 - 2nd): Starting the bike, I wanted no chance of someone grabbing my wheel. I started out at 300+ Watts for the first mile to ensure I had a solid gap. The hardest part for me was to not look back. Every time I wanted to check, I reminded myself that the race could come down to seconds. Plus, if someone did catch me, I was already giving everything I had. My legs screamed the entire time, but my cardio had some room to go. This gives me some hope that I might go faster on rested legs. I knew my buddy Mitch was hot in pursuit, so I stayed on the gas and kept my eyes up the road. I was dying to reach the turnaround to get a look at how much he had closed. Sure enough, he was cruising just over a minute back and dropping 3-5th place riding together. I worked solo the entire ride and came into T2 still in 1st.
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| Getting the feet out for T2 |
T2 (0:36 - 5th): Not much to note here. My bike rack was in a great spot, but the dismount line wasn’t clearly marked. I found out after the race that the timing mat was the line, and I had dismounted about 20 meters early. It only cost me a few seconds, but I wish I had them back.
Run (17:26 - 2nd): As I started my run, Mitch was flying into transition. I knew he could still run me down, so I hit the first mile hard. With a 5:50 split uphill on the first mile, I knew I was close to my pace from 2019. After the turnaround, there was one last little climb before a downhill finish. About halfway up, Mitch and I exchanged a quick high five, and I was on the home stretch. At this point I was ready to coast it in, but really wanted to be under 1:03. I clocked a 5:38 and 5:25 on miles 2 and 3 to break the tape at 1:01:59.
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| 1st Overall with Sarah |
Post-Race: I am stoked to have won my 3rd straight title and earn my first cash prize racing! I was hoping to take 1st in at least one discipline but wound up with a lot of 2nds. As I caught my breath, Mitch cruised his way to a 2nd place finish. We always talk about going 1, 2, and this was the second time we were able to do so. A huge thank you to him for the long rides, long runs, and always pushing me to that next level.
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| 1st and 2nd |
At this point, I am
getting ready to race Ohio 70.3 on July 25th. After that race, it
will be full steam ahead to Kona. Ironman Wisconsin will be thrown in middle so
I can race with my dad in his first! But, my eyes are currently set on a solid
performance at the Ironman World Championships this October.
