I Love Me a Good Sprint Triathlon
Brewhouse Sprint Triathlon, Duluth, MN – August 6, 2017
0.75 km / 20 km / 5 km
“There’s a great fascination with ultras being harder than other races,
but the mile is every bit as difficult as 100 miles if you apply yourself to it.”
Rickey Gates, ultrarunner
as quoted in Outside Magazine
I heard Kris Swarthout from Final K Sport Services once express a similar sentiment about sprint triathlons:
Never say you are just doing a sprint triathlon. Sprint triathlons are fast and furious, you push yourself and go all out for the duration of the race.
I was a sprinter growing up, and I’m still a sprinter at heart. So, I love those fast and furious sprint triathlons, especially if they do not skimp on the swim distance. And the Brewhouse Sprint Triathlon does it just right.
Swim > 12:21; 1:31 / 100 yds; 4th female; 1st age group
(photo: tonecoughlin.com)
Garmin > 1:31 / 100 yds
This was a rough swim. I don’t think I was ever hit over my head or I hit others over their head as often as during this swim. At times, the hits came at me from both sides. The swimmer on the right pushing to the left, the swimmer on the left pushing to the right, and me in the middle being squeezed like a lemon. My wave being a mixed wave, I don’t even know whether it was men or women hitting me, but I know that the women rocked this swim. Four of the Top Five swim times were achieved by the women of my wave. I exited the water 5th overall!
T1 > 0:53; 1st female; 1st age group
Nothing special to report here. The transition went well, and I was fast, only one male athlete achieved a faster T1 time.
Bike > 0:33:15; 22.4 mph; 4th female; 1st age group
(photo: tonecoughlin.com)
Garmin > 22.2 mph
This bike course is always fun and always fast. And I just love that I can push hard because it is a sprint. It shows in my speed. There was no strategy here, you just constantly ask yourself, can I push even harder.
T2 > 0:45; 4th female; 1st age group
Again, the transition went really well, even Jerry MacNeil commented about the speed of my transition. There was just one minor hick-up: my pony tail got caught on the helmet stabilizer system. It cost me maybe at most a second 😉
Run > 21:55; 7:05 min/mi; 16th female; 1st age group
Garmin > 7:36 min/mi
This was the first time this year, that the run felt good. I came out of the transition and I felt like I was flying. Well … relative to the runs in the previous triathlons this year. The dirt road section (midway through the run) and the soft trail section (for the last 1/2 mile) slowed my down, but not to the point that I felt like I was struggling. Running back towards the finish line, I could see the second placed athlete ahead of me, and I realized that I was inching up on her. However, once we entered the windy soft trail section, I lost her out of sight. I knew that even if I would push really hard for the last 1/2 mile, I would not be able to catch her. I faced the question, should I continue to push even without a chance to improve in placing, or should I ease up somewhat considering that Nationals were only a week away. Nationals are my A-race, so I shifted back a gear.
(photo: tonecoughlin.com)
Overall > 1:09:08; 3rd female; 1st Master; 1st age group
Overall, I had a good race, I was pleased about the race. I can go into next weeks Nationals with confidence. And I just love a good, fast, and furious sprint triathlon!
What’s coming up next?
On August 12, I will be racing the Olympic distance at the USAT Nationals in Omaha, NE.
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