My running background has officially morphed into the triathlon world and I’m fully addicted!
My journey began after adding cycling into my hybrid training (back in 2018-2019). The cycling started with an aluminum Bianchi bike and later transformed into a fully carbon Specialized triathlon bike.
Since 2019, I’ve been hooked, and was around that time I added swimming into my weekly training routine as well. Well, that was until COVID hit (around 2020). Even though COVID wiped out most of my races, I still continued to train as much as possible to prepare for the 2021-2022 race season.
Leading into September 11, 2021 started my first (NOVICE) sprint triathlon – the Hyannis II Triathlon (2021). This race was super laid back being their 39th anniversary with an amazing scenery of the ocean / beach house setting.
Going into the race I felt my run and bike skills were strong, although my swim (being my least favorite sport) was lacking. I knew the swim was only about 400-500 yards and I’ve been swimming longer distances in my local gym swimming pool. So I felt that should be enough to perform for this race.
For the race recap, let’s begin with sleep. I stayed at a local hotel with my wife and two young daughters, so my pre-race sleep was terrible lol. My Whoop band indicated I was in the “yellow” zone for recovery, although I slept about 4-5 hours. Being outside of my normal sleep-setting and the typical race nerve excitement, my sleep wasn’t the best.
Race morning – fuel started with 1 banana and 2 homemade oat, honey, granola bars from Whole Foods Market. Also, added some water with watermelon flavored electrolytes.
- Arrived on site around 4:45-5:00am for race setup.
- Quick bathroom stop, then setup my bike & station for transition, and ready for my racing numbers.
- Next, wetsuit on and we’re off to the ocean for age group wave start.
- My race wave was toward the back of the starting lineup, therefore I waited in line for about 1 hour 🙁
- I took this time to dial in and get ready for a fun and fast race.
Results
My swim time was 9:08 with a pace of 2:05. This was slightly slower from my practice time, but good experience to learn from. Ranking for my swim was 15/39 and overall was 160/350.
Transition 1 (T1) = 2:00 mins. I can 100% work on shaving some time off. We will revisit during training. Overall 59/350
Bike = 33 Mins / avg pace 18.5 mph – Overall 76/350
T2 = 2:16 mins, again we’ll focus on shaving off some time here! Overall 217/350 (ouch). I need to practice on visibility of my section. With all the bikes removed from the racks, I couldn’t find my section. Next time I will be using a funky towel or something to recognize my section for a faster transition.
Run (my sweet spot) = I was able to gain some extra valuable time on the run course. I had a great time on the run, and was filled with much more juice in my engine. Time was 24:05 for 3.6 miles. Pace was 6:42/mile – ranking for my division was 1/39 and overall was 14/350
Conclusion
Overall, I am happy with my performance and looking forward to racing the Hyannis Triathlon again – on September 10, 2022! I am actively working on my swim performance, and already have shaved a few seconds off my pace.
Follow along for round 2 of the Hyannis Triathlon. Also, let’s connect on Instagram & TikTok for additional content!
Thank you and Happy Racing!