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Tri Season Starts with a Sprint

I haven't done a sprint triathlon since 2015 since I've been focused on longer distance, but we decided it might be fun to do a sprint and I decided to do the Indiana spring sprint tri at Ball State (my alma mater). Race report is Saturday log.

 Monday - 5,000 yard swim. I still feel like I can't find fast at all and 5,000 always feels long.

 Tuesday - Great mile repeats. I even added a 4th mile of the hard effort. 7.5 total miles.

 Wednesday - swam 2,900 after having a BodPod test with Lindsay in the morning, but then I needed to get into the office and I ended up working until 10 PM so I didn't get a ride in.

 Thursday - Brick workout at Eagle Creek (but I stayed in the flat areas). I set this up as a crit style course since that's what the tri course was going to be. I rode 16.5 miles in just under an hour and then ran two pretty quick miles off the bike.

 Friday - REST DAY!

 Saturday - RACE REPORT

 Sunday - I went out and rode 35 miles in just over two hours. It felt pretty breezy out of the north and east. By breezy I mean awfully windy :D

 RACE REPORT:
Indiana Spring Sprint Triathlon at Ball State - 300 yard swim, 9.6 mile ride, 3.1 mile run

The swim was challenging. Lewellen Pool only has 6 25-yard lanes so to get to 300 yards it is 50 in each lane snaking. I lined up at the 7 minute line and I hoped to swim a bit faster than that. I got right at 7 minutes, I did pass one person, but took a pretty good beating in the process and decided not to try to pass anyone else.

T1 wasn’t bad, I took the time to put on long socks, a jacket, and a beanie to be warm enough since it was only 45 degrees out and windy (out of the north).

The bike course was 4 laps, it wasn’t terribly annoying except by the 4th lap it was hard to remember if you had finished all 4 or if you had finished 3. Fortunately, the time on my watch seemed right and I knew I had done 4 laps. A few guys were DQ’d for only riding 3. I was passing quite a bit and even managed to chick Ron. The north wind was rough because the north part of the course was also up gradient.

T2 went smoothly and I was out on the run course. Much like Thursday’s brick I wasn’t overly concerned about the first few minutes because I was getting my legs back…but apparently it was quick anyway. The run course was two loops. Included one awkward street crossing, down a set of stairs near Pruis, and the hill back up to Riverside – all x2. There were a lot of tour groups on campus, but for the most part they were good about staying out of the way of runners. I ran very well, averaging 10:32 pace.

I didn’t place because of the 50 women in the race, 7 were in my division. I finished 5 of 7. Heather was the AG winner and several minutes ahead of the next person. 2-5 were all within 3 minutes, and the remainder well behind.

I was surprised (happy) with my time…swim what I expected (not fast but at least it wasn’t slower than that), bike what ME called (which I thought was not attainable), and run much faster than I could have imagined.

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