The 2010 Sully Super Sprint Triathlon race report

The 2010 Sully Super Sprint Triathlon race report

Saturday morning my buddy & I got off from working a 12 hour shift and drove to Alpine Texas for the Sully Super Sprint Triathlon. There was a terrible snow storm that started the night before. The roads were a mess, dangerous, and we were on our way!

I knew it was going to be cold for race start on Sunday morning. The near freezing temperatures that was expected had me jumping for joy! I have break out performances at races where the temperature is at or below freezing.

I was feeling confident for this race. Along with the freezing cold I was going to be racing at 193 pounds which was 34 pounds lighter than my usual race weight.

My training has been at an all time high. I had really been hammering out the hill training & speed intervals! The only thing that may negatively effect my race would be fatigue. I'd just finished 3 consecutively harder weeks of KILLER training. & since the Sully Super Sprint Triathlon was a C race I wasn't taking any time to rest, which included a 1.5 hour base run the night before the race.

As soon as we got to Alpine we set up our tent. It was cold! It ended up getting down to 25 degrees that night. 25 degrees & sleeping in a tent made for a memorable uncomfortable night!

The triathlon was a reverse sprint, a 3 mile run, 15 mile bike, 360 yard swim. It was as cold as was expected at the start, somewhere around 33 degrees. As usual I raced with as little equipment & clothes on as possible. Most of the athletes were racing in shorts, cycling tops, cycling pants, a wind breaker, ear muffs, & gloves. I started with gloves & a triathlon suit- see the picture above of me in a triathlon suit. Not much to it eh? That's right, that is what I raced in, nothing else. I do this because racing with as little on as possible saves time transitioning from the run to bike & the bike to the swim.

The Sully Super Sprint has a very hard run for a sprint triathlon! Massive hills! Because of the fatigue from the hard training I'd been going through the 3 weeks before I was having a difficult time getting my legs going on the run. I ended up finishing around 13th place overall on the run portion. Not any where as well as I was hoping. Thankfully by the time I got on to the bike I felt like my legs were warmed up & I was ready to start reeling some people in!

As soon as I started out on the bike I knew I felt great & started hunting people down! The question remained: was I going to be able to make up the time I'd lost to my competitors on the run?

Since it was an out and back course on the bike I was able to count how many athletes were in front of me as they rode back from the turn around. Just before the turn around I saw there were only 2 people in front of me! I was in 3rd place overall!

At my last race, the Presidents day duathlon I was in 10th place overall spot and 10Kilometers from the end I was knocked out of the top 10 by fellow triathlete Mark Balsinger.

So same situation here at the Sully Super Sprint, with 5 kilometers left on the bike Mark Balsinger passed me (again) & knocked me out of the top 3 spot.

I entered T-2 around 15 seconds behind Mark & he swims about as fast as I do. I knew the only way I could beat him was if I had a much faster transition. This is where racing with less clothes/equipment has helped me. Even though he entered transition 15 seconds before I did, I departed the transition area before him & was able to hold him off on the swim, securing my first ever top 3 finish!!!!!!!

Lesson of the day, race as close to your birthday suit as the law will allow :-P

This was my 3rd 1st place finish in the 35-39 age group this year & I am currently winning the South West Challenge Series 35-39 with a total of 38 points with 4 races. The next placed competitor in the 35-39 is Gregory Gouveia with 17 Points and 2 races.

My next race is the Wind Triathlon on Saturday April 3rd 2010 at WSMR.

Thanks for tuning in!