OK, let’s get this out of the way now. The posted results say I finished second in my age group but I’m sure the guy they have in first skipped a lap on the bike (for various reasons that I’m not going bother talking about here). So in my mind I won and that’s that.
After spending the morning watching the LETC crew in the Duathalon and acting as team photographer, I started my prep and warm up for the Sprint.
Lining up for the swim I found myself as third in line. Definitely a strange feeling since they line up accoarding to projected swim times and I’m used to being in the middle or near the back. Unfortunately, the swim didn’t go as “projected”. Was passed at 100 m mark and then again just after 150 m so needless to say, things weren’t going too well. I just couldn’t get relaxed early on which is common for me in swim races and probably due to a lack of experience in them.
That said, after that 150 m point I wasn’t passed again for the rest of the race. I settled down the rest of the way for the swim and came out in 4th (one guy started ahead of me and at that point was nearly 3 minutes ahead of me) with another guy right on my tail but I put a good 5-10 seconds on him running hard to transition (one of my pre race goals) and never saw him again.
After a solid transition and no problems getting into my shoes on the bike (thanks to some practicing on the course Saturday) I settled into a good bike ride. I moved up into 3rd on the outward portion of the first lap with some good speed on the downhill. He was not happy as he also just been passed by another guy who I could see was about 45 seconds ahead of me at the turnaround.
This pass wouldn’t be as easy though as he was a strong rider. I made up some ground on the steep uphill on 16th the first time around so that I was only about 30 seconds down and at that point made the decision not to kill myself chasing him down. I knew I could again make up some time again going up that hill on the second lap and then demoralize him by passing him in transition as I know how good my T2 is. It was probably a good idea too because at this point I was having trouble getting down energy drink without it feeling like it was going to come back up.
So on lap 2, I just stayed smooth and did close the gap slightly enough that he was now looking back every so often to see where I was. Sure enough on the last climb up 16th I got right behind him (not so close that I was drafting though 
) and then stayed there for the ride into transition.
As it turned out, he slowed down considerably to take his feet out of his shoes and I ended up passing him before I even got to transition. Had another quick transition and headed out on the run in 2nd.
At this point I wasn’t sure how far behind me the who I just passed was so I just pushed it to try and put some distance between me and him. After last year where I struggled running in triathlons after a bike, I was worried that I was going to lose all of the ground and places I had taken on the ride. But all the work in the fall and winter on running had paid off as at the first turn around not only did I see that I had put lots of time on the 3rd place guy, I also saw the leader for the first time only 30 seconds ahead and looking like he was struggling.
Feeling confident now and with Alan and Martina riding beside me I set my sights on first. On the suggestion of Alan, I took to demoralizing him with a little racing strategy. When I caught him, rather than passing him right away I matched his pace for 30 seconds or so (giving me a little rest and letting him believe that I might not be able to pass). Then I kicked it up a notch above pace, passing him with a speed that he couldn’t match and left him knowing he wasn’t going to catch me. Devious but so much fun. Thanks Alan for that one.
After about a minute I settled back into pace and never looked back on my way to the finish. In honesty I probably could’ve been faster on the run (as evidenced by the announcer at the finish saying that it didn’t even look like I was tired and should go do another lap) but it was just a “training race”.
Thanks to mom and dad who were there to cheer me on and for the race support from Alan and Martina (who also took all the wonderful pictures which will be up soon). They do lose points for making me jump in the water at Spanish Banks afterwards for cryotherapy though. If only I were as smart as JJ to just stay on the shore and bark.
So I finished with my first ever win and feeling so much better about my running (it really was a great feeling to chase someone down on the run like that). Now I’ve just got to put in some more time in the pool so I don’t have to chase people down and can lead the whole way.
