Subase New London Sprint Triathlon

Official Results: 4th OA, 1st AG M30-39, Time: 40:00
Swim - 1/4 mile, Bike - 6.2 miles, Run 1.5 miles

This race was an unscheduled race and had found out about it from my dad literally about 4 days prior to it being held and since it was the first year that they were doing it, the race entry was free! That's right, free! How could I pass up a race that was free to enter and all I had to do was show up. I was little skeptical about the race being free since it was being held on the subase and the possible disorganization that could come along with this, but since it was free, I thought what the hell, why not?

With the race being so last minute and early in the morning, I ended up driving to CT by myself since Jess had plans that Saturday night. I drove down on Friday night so that I wasn't getting up at 3am and then making the long drive down to CT that morning. That would have been crazy!

The race course was as follows. The swim started at the Subase Marina and was a one mass wave start swim from the water in the Thames River. I was little worried about a single wave swim start since it was a sprint. The good thing was that there wasn't too many people in the race, about 100 or so, so it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. The bike was an out and back 3 loop course which was tough because the turn around got pretty jammed up with people making the turn around. The run was all flat since and was an easy out and back course.

Swim 1/4 Mile: 10th OA; 10:41 (2:39/100m)
I knew that going into the swim it was going to be rough. I haven't done any swimming what so ever this year. This was the first time I had done any swimming at all and let me tell you, I was a little tired at the end of only a .25 mile swim. The tough part about the swim was that as you neared the first buoy there was some serious current that was pulling you once you made the turn and you really had to fight it to stay on course. I was literally swimming sideways to stay straight. Once you made it closer to shore after that buoy the current helped bring you back in, which was great. Once I got back to the dock you had to pull yourself out of the water and run back up to the transition area. The transition area was nice and spread out, but the only down side was not having proper bike racks. As I made my way into transition I knew I would make a quick change to the bike since I swam without my wetsuit and I had my quickest T1 ever! 31 seconds, good enough to have the fastest T1 for the race. I was psyched when I found that out after the race!

Bike 6.2 Miles: 3rd OA; 17:55 (20.7 mph)
Once I exited T1 and headed out on the bike, I was hoping to really hammer down and put it all out there. It was a rolling hill course, but the downhills I was able to hit like 35 mph. It was really the turn arounds that slowed this course down, otherwise I definitely would have averaged 21 to 22mph overall. I felt pretty solid on the bike with my Zipp 404's on humming away. Towards the end of the bike leg my left calf was starting to cramp up, but quickly went away as I stretched it coming into T2. As I came into T2, I ended up running into a race official that wasn't paying attention and was in the way of me coming into the transition area...pay attention people. That was pretty annoying and it ended up costing me my a place. Not that it mattered though, because I gave up 2 or 3 spots trying to get my shoes laced up to run and pull my shoes on. I think if I continue to race next year, I might invest in a pair of triathlon shoes so I can easily slip them on and off. Once I exited T2 I quickly caught the 2 people that passed in T2. I also was surprised at how many people I picked off on the bike, I was in 5th or 6th when I exited.

Run 1.5 Miles: 1st OA; 9:12 (6:08/mile)
I was hoping that I would have the fastest run as this is where I excel about 90 to 99% of the time. It's just a shame the run leg wasn't longer as I probably would have picked up another place. As I came to the finish I was within 5 seconds of catching the next person in front of me. The difference was that he had a kick, and I didn't as I was already maxed out. I believe this is also because of my lack of training this year.

Post Race:
All and all this was a very well run race for the first year and would recommend doing it again. Not only was it well run, but the prizes were awesome as well considering that the race was free! I have been to many other races that have been run for years that have been run a lot worse than this. So hats off to all of the volunteers and race officials that made this race possible. They did an unbelievable job. Hopefully I can do this one again.

Next report, Call to Honor. Check back soon, but it might be awhile though as I'm getting married in a few weeks and finding time to do blog posts, has been next to impossible. As you can tell since this race was 2 months ago!