2015 Lifetime Fitness Marquee Sprint Triathlon Race Report: Whitesides

Lifetime Fitness Marquee Sprint Triathlon was a great way to start off the 2015 season. I tried a few new tricks. Here are a couple of learnings:

·    Most of my high priority races are either 140.6 or 70.3 miles long which requires racing at a moderate effort for a long time. A 16 mile sprint triathlon is a nice way to shake-up the intensity and practice quick transitions.

·    I put significant effort into the swim and bike segments with the intention of moderating my effort on the run which is opposite my normal race strategy. The result was a nice bike split: about 2 minutes faster than my normal time. I started off the run at a moderate effort but found I had plenty of energy to push through the run at a good pace. The big effort on my bike may have slowed me down by ~20 seconds on the run. Victory in the sport of triathlon is measured by the sum of all segments, including transitions, so my overall finish time improved by ~1:40 min (2:00 min faster on the bike, twenty seconds slower on the run equals 1:40 min improvement). Note, going all out on the bike segment of a long-course triathlon is a colossal bad idea.

·    Working with Coach Elizabeth Waterstraat, my swim times have improved nicely in the pool, however, my swim time in the race was flat despite my best effort. While racing, I noticed that my swim stoke in the pool is different than when I swim in a wetsuit in rough open water. Before my next race, I will practice more in the open water.

·    This was my first race with ONE Multisport. ONE is ONE big family! Incredible support from fellow ONE participants and support crew. Really inspiring.

·    Separate from race strategy, it was a great day to see my kids and wife volunteering at the swim start. Our little girls were the cutest little volunteers holding wave start signs prior to the swim.

·    In the end, I ended up winning my age group and placing 8^th overall. Not a bad way to start off the season.

·    Last, check-out the size of the Lifetime Fitness medals. You could serve turkey dinner on these platters! I’m going to have to add an additional anchor screw to the hanger that holds my medals.