Pequannock Sprint Tri Race Report

Not much preparation went into this sprint. I viewed it as a fun training day. Woke up at 5:30 am (the worst part of this whole sport) to get to the race on time and get set up in transition. I remembered my bike shoes this time.

There were a lot of beginners at this race, they make it easy for first timers. The sprint I did was 1/4 mile swim, 11 mile bike and 5k run. They also offer a 200 yd swim, 6 mile bike and 2 mile run, a really good way to get introduced to the sport.

There were 9 waves of sprint participants and 2 or 3 waves of the shorter course folks. I was in wave 6 with the rest of my age group.

The swim was basically an out and back in a warm, small lake. I somehow found myself at the front of the beach on the left side right before the start. Normally I hang back on the swim but this time I was at the front, not sure why. I got off to a good start, however I was traffic for the faster swimmers, as expected when I start from the front, so there was the usual contact. I felt decent in the water and after rounding the turn buoy I got into a draft from another guy on my left. I stayed right by his hip for most of the way back, and was comfortable swimming that close to him. I had what was probably my best swim so far. just over 9:00 for the 1/4 mile and short run to transition.

Got off the wetsuit and wiped the sand from my feet, put on the bike shoes and helmet and I was off. I left the aero helmet home for this one. I started to hammer pretty much right away, the course was totally flat so I was doing 21-22 mph pretty much the whole way. I don't know why but I thought the ride was 15 miles, and was pacing my effort for that distance. To my surprise the ride was only 11 miles (although it was advertised as 11 mile ride, still not sure how I got 15 in my head). I averaged 21.8 mph but probably could have gone a little harder, but glad I didn't.

Having held back that little bit on the bike, I felt the best I have on a run after bike. Most of the run was on a trail or access road, not ideal for my sneakers, but it was fine. I felt good, and was able to run comfortably at pace. I pushed a bit the last mile and averaged 8:30 miles for the 5k. Sorry I don't have the split detail Jason would normally provide here.

All in all a good solid race, although a short one it was the best I've felt in any tri event so far.

80th overall out of 413 including the relay teams
full results http://www.compuscore.com/cs2010/aug/peqsprnt.htm

Place Name               Age Sx     Bib  Swim   Pace SwPlc  T1   T1Plc   Bike  MPH BkPlc   T2   T2Plc   Run    Pace RnPlc Finish

80.   Marc Franco          36 M     268   9:17  2:07  179 | 1:09   57 |  30:15 21.8   33 |  :51  114 |  26:20  8:30  157 |1:07:52