Pic Spocket

3 days after the Tomatoman ‘fiasco’ was the first installment of the T-REX sprint triathlon serie in Brighton Michigan, called ‘Triceratops’. If you remember, I participated in the complete serie last year, showing a nice progression over the 3 races.

Few days before the race, they sent an email out offering people that thought they could finish under 1:12:00, to join some type of ‘Elite’ wave start, the first one to start. I am usually not too good with pressure but I decided to join that wave anyway. I thought that this wave would probably less crowded, which could lead to a swim with less traffic. Turns out that the Elite wave was about the same size as the other ones it seems.

Weather was surprisingly nice (thunderstorms in the forecast) and we had umbrellas with us rather than sunscreen, which is what we would have actually needed. The humidex factor was really high.

Water temperature was too high (79 deg F) so wetsuits were not allowed. That was almost a relief since I think that the wetsuit has been part of the reason for my swim panic in the previous race. Overheating and the restriction over the chest contributed in loosing my cool. So I used the SpeedSuit, while they are still legal (till September).

Following the problems in my swim in Leamington just days before, I took it really easy, swimming wide around the buoys avoiding contacts as much as possible, focusing on staying calm and relaxed rather than trying to go fast. It worked! No panic in the swim this time, even if I stopped a few times. I must have come out of the water in the middle of the pack. Definitely: I can make up for some time in the next races once I solve my swim issues. Here are swim pictures.

My friend Craig also participated in the race. Corinne and Tracy came as our support group and event photographers. Tracy is only days away before delivering a baby. Corinne took some amazing pictures! Thanks, love!

The bike portion went really good, I actually cut a minute off my best time from last year on this course with many rolling hills. I did have aero wheels and helmet this time that I did not have last year. Not sure how much of the time saving can be attributed to the wheels and helmet versus my fitness. I actually posted the 4th fastest bike split of the day, putting me in the top 10 before the run. Here I am just before reaching T2, feet off the shoes, ready to jump off the bike at the dismount line.

Run was tough in the heat conditions. I still managed to do a PR on the run split by over a minute over last year. Here we are, in the run split! The last 3 pictures are on the home stretch to the finish line

Final result: 1:08:35, placing 9th / 435 participants, 3rd in age group. By far, my best result relative to the number of entries (top 2%). Awesome! My best finish at T-REX last year was 45th position. Looks like I am going to have a good season…

>> RESULTS

Here is the comparison between my splits of this race and my best result from last year on the same course:

As usual, more pictures in the album below!

Triceratops Triathlon 2010

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 26th, 2010 at 11:29 am and is filed under Sport and Races, Our news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.