Tigershark Sprint #2 Race Report.

It was a beautiful day to be in a Tri this past Sat. The weather was warm. (as usual in Daytona Beach.) The winds were mild, but cooling. It was slightly overcast and the Atlantic was pretty calm.

Event, 1/4mi Swim, 8mi Bike, 3.2mi Run (on beach)

The swim was pretty calm but not quite flat. I took a few hits from waves while breathing in during the portion parallel to the beach and was forced to breaststroke until I could regain my breath and stop coughing salt water. (I need to work on bilateral breathing) I actually managed to catch a few waves on the way in, making it a bit eaiser. But the swim still felt long. (I never actually practiced swimming before the event.)

Out of the water and a short run up the beach ramps to the transition area. I doused my feet with a spare waterbottle I brought just for washing the sand from my feet. Slipped on my shoes, helmet, grabbed my bike and was off. It was an 8 mi bike 2 down, 4 back, and 2 down. It was all on A1A. (beachfront ave.) We had a slight headwind on the longer 4mi section, but nothing drastic.

Screaming back into transition (we can dream right?) to get out on the run. I douse my feet once more before donning my running shoes, grab my stopwatch and take off for the beach. It's a 1.5 mi out and back with water at mi 1 and mi 2 on the way back. It was a pretty uneventful run, although I did have a small pack behind me using me for a pacing tool. Somewhere around mile 2 it seemed like some jerk stuffed sandpaper into both my shoes and just below my ankle bones is still sore.

Breakdown.

11:14 Swim (ew) 1:48 T1 25:35 Bike 0:41 T2 28:42 Run.

Total 1:07:58. I didn't think it was too bad for a 1st time in a USAT race.

Plus as a bonus, I got 3rd in my age group! Yay bronze.

If you're in Daytona Aug 17th, don't miss event #3 with a 1/2mi swim, 12mi bike, and 3 mi beach run.

Later All!