Lansing Legislator Sprint Triathlon

This was my first ever triathlon.  It was a sprint tri with the following distances:

Swim 500 Meter, Bike 20 Kilometers, Run 5 Kilometers

Swim:

Headed to T1

I took it easy in the water but ended up right in the thick of things. I made contact many times but loved it. I couldn't believe how many people seemed like they couldn't swim. They had their faces out of the water the whole time or were holding on to things (like Jason's kayak) or swimming in their backs. The swim was really fun and I kept telling myself that I couldn't believe I was swimming competitively in a triathlon.  It was a great feeling hitting the beach and hearing my family cheering me on. I sprinted into transition and was out of T1 in 1:08. The transition was really smooth with the exception of my shirt rolling up on my wet back. I had to pull it down once I was on the bike. So many people were poking around when they came out of the water I couldn't believe it.

 
Bike:

There is no greater feeling than passing a full carbon race bike with a mountain bike...I did it several times. Apparently roadies are pussies and don't know how to stand while climbing hills and hammer down. Well mountain bikers do and I did. I just kept telling myself that I knew my legs would have plenty left for the run so I wanted to abuse myself on the bike. I suppose I could have pushed harder, but the headwind (12-14MPH) kept me in check. I ended up finishing the bike in 27th place.

Rolled shirt

Heading out of T2

Run:

I pushed a little hard on the last 1/4 mile of the bike so I was really winded coming into T2. Again I was amazed how much time people wasted getting off their bikes. I burned way too much time in T2 putting on my running shoes. The transition took me 1:26 while other people did it in 34 seconds. I anticipated this may be a problem, and it was...but I got off too fast on the run. When I passed Jason (he was out of the water and helping direct runners at that point) I was really winded and feeling pain. I looked down at my Garmin and was running 5:40 pace...it took me about a mile to catch my breath and settle down. I passed a good number of people on the run. The nice thing about triathlon is they write your age and event/distance right on the back of your legs so when you are on the course you know who your competitors are. With about a mile to go I realized that the guy in front of me was in the sprint tri and was 33. He was in my age group and I wanted to run him down to improve my placing. I stuck with him and made my move about 25 yards from the finish as we were running down the chute. He didn't have a chance as he had no idea I was coming...I blew past him to improve my ranking. Overall it was a really fun race. I ended up finishing 24th out of 144 overall and 21st out of 97 males. Not sure how I placed in my age group. I finished 68th on the swim, 27th on the bike and 14th on the run. I'll be back. I want Oly distance!! Just gotta figure out that swim and get a real bike. Oh and speed laces for the running shoes.


Official results can be seen here.