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Quick race updates: I competed in 2 sprint (short course) triathlon races in the last week: Loaring Triathlon and Pterodactyl Triathlon, 2nd part of the T-REX serie. In both races, I happened to finish 4 overall! I am pretty happy with these results!!

 Loaring Tri

The loaring tri is fun, local event in Essex County organized by the Loarings (my coach James is the co-director with his sister Charlotte). About 90 people showed up for the sprint race (they also had a beginner race before) including some very fast people. The winner of the day, Dave Sharrat (my coach’s brother in law) is actually a professional. He finished 10th overall at the same Half-Ironamn I did in Florida in May.

The water was REALLY agitated (big waves) and they thought about cancelling the swim, but decided to keep it but made the course shorter and allow wetsuits despite the water temperature being higher than the usual limit for wetsuits. It was funny to see several people debating whether or not they should use the wetsuit, and changing mind every 2 minutes. I actually took mine: if you allow something that can make me faster, I’ll always go with it! 

I just had an OK swim, but an awesome bike split, doing pretty good against local cycling legends. Finished 4th, right after the pros, first in my age group. It was a good day!

 >> Results: HERE
 >> Photos:

Loaring Triathlon 2010

Pterodactyl Tri

Just a couple of days later, there was the second installment of the T-REX wednesday night sprint triathlon serie. They actually sold out the event at almost 500 people registered (but 465 finishers). I did very good finishing 9th in the first event in 1:08:35 and I was hoping to get a new Personal Best on that course.

Due to water temperature, wetsuits were not allowed so I got the speedsuit out. I started the swim with the Elite wave, starting easy to avoid panic attacks down the road (I am always on the edge hehe!). I have to say, that was my best race swim ever. I stayed focused and held my front crawl for 85% of the swim. Only on the last stretch, I did stop very briefly 3 times before resuming right after. I am close to a perfect execution now. I still swam far to my right to avoid unecessary contacts.

I also had a really good bike, not only the 3rd fastest split of the day, but only 20 seconds behind the fastest guy (he did ~2 minutes better than me last time!). When I started the run, Corinne screamed at me saying I was in 3rd position. I could not believe it!

I am a decent runner, but not a REALLY fast one. So I pushed hard to try to keep my position. Few minutes into the run, I got passed by a local favorite, Roman, but I passed another guy right away, restoring my 3rd position. But I had a target on my back. I tried to hold my position as much as possible, and managed to do so until there was only 2km to go. Then I got passed. I increased the effort one level to keep up with him, and I did for a while, but then he changed gears towards the end and I finished in 4th position. So close to a podium finish!! I probably lost that podium in my second transition, which appear to be on the long side…

I am still very proud of myself. Finishing 4th/465 is awesome, and I got a new PB on that course at 1:05:53, more than 2.5 minutes faster than last time! This is mostly due to the swim where I cut 2 minutes.

My friend Craig was also there, on his new road bike. After a good scare with the bike (loose front wheel bearings and the tire popping while setting up in transition), he actually had a very good race, doing a Personal Best (PB) on this course with a 1:22:40. That’s what triathlon is about: improving yourself!!! Congrats Craig!

 >> Results: HERE
 >> Photos:
 

Pterodactyl Triathlon 2010