Granite Man Sprint Triathlon

GRANITEMAN 

Spint Triathlon

9/21/14

I was looking for a sprint distance triathlon and decided on doing the Graniteman - 400 yd swim, 6.5 mile bike, 2 mile run. I started swimming with the ALT Dolphins swim team in June. In August, when the Dolphins season ended and school started, I had to swim before school. I rode my bike 4.7 miles to the pool where I would swim 500-900 yards. On the weekends, I would practice my open water swim at Stumpy Meadows (before it burned) and Granite Bay. I also rode my mountain bike a lot.

The morning of the race, I was worried about smoke from the King Fire but it was fine. I set up the transition and then got on the turbo trainer for about 20 minutes. Then I went down to the water. I was nervous about the swim because my swim is not the strongest. 

I started in the front row but 20 yards into the swim my legs locked up because I was nervous. I had to flip over on my back and do backstroke for a few feet to catch my breath. About halfway through the swim, I started feeling good. There was a current pushing me off course. I came in about 16-20th out of 36 people. I had some old shoes down at the beach and I slipped them on and started up the beach. I passed about 10 people jogging up to T1. The only other 19 and under was a girl named Emily. She is the 11 year old Tri4kids female champion. She was the second one out of the water and first into T1. She was a phenomenal swimmer and a great competitor.

I had a quick transition, washing the sand off my feet in the bucket of water we set up and getting my bike shoes, helmet and backpack on. I only passed a couple of people on the bike. I caught Emily about halfway and we went back and forth with another racer for about 1.5 miles and then I pulled ahead a little bit. I came in about 10 seconds ahead of Emily. T2 was rough because I set my shoes up wrong and still had sand on my feet. Emily left T2 first and was about 50 yards ahead of me.



I felt really good going into the run. I was able to catch Emily and we passed a lot of racers. She and I went back and forth. On the last hill, I did a mini sprint and was able to open a small gap. I sprinted across the finish only 5 seconds ahead of Emily. My run time for two miles was 14:54, the second best run time. My total time was 54:16 - 6th overall. I was the only 19 and under male.



This was my first sprint triathlon and I liked it. I think I can improve on the swim and T2. Thanks to TBFRacing for all of the races they do and Roseville Cyclery for the awesome bike.



Here is the youtube video my mom made:   GraniteMan Tri