5430 Sprint, 2008

Coming back from Vancouver left me itching for a real race. This past weekend was the 5430 Sprint and I was psyched for a fast, fun course. Sprints are my favorite distance; not only do they suite my strengths as an athlete, but they generally are low key and require less preparation in the days prior to the race. Sprint races are a chance to go all out and grit your teeth through the finish.

My race went surprisingly well. Minutes before the starting gun I was joking about how I should be starting the race from the back of the pack. Regardless, I started the swim front and center with my buddies who were in my wave. After the gun, I settled into a strong pace and felt very comfortable. I kept the same effort level and was enjoying the untouched glassy water in front. One by one the swimmers by my side dropped back and I was tempted to slow down to get on a pair of feet to draft, but decided that leading a swim was a rare and fun occurrence, so I kept chugging along quite comfortably in the lead. I kicked it up a notch with 300m to go, and when I ran out of the water I was leading by ~30sec. After hustling in and out of T1, I had a good mount and started the ride. Pacing was great, I never went over the red line and kept my effort under control for the bike. I lead my wave for most of the bike, until the last 2 miles when the two friends I had started the swim with passed me and stayed ahead. I came into T2 about 20 seconds back but exited in 2nd place. I played it conservative for most of the run and kept a pace I thought I could maintain. Surprisingly, the gap between myself and my buddy in the lead held steady at 15 sec through the halfway mark. I fell off pace shortly after and was caught by the other friend trailing close behind. With 2k to go all I could do was hang on as best as I could. He dropped me shortly thereafter and I was left with nothing but momentum carrying me forward.

I finished the race 1min 16sec slower than last year, but only one place down from last year; 11th overall, 2nd place age group. Not bad considering I've only put in about 50 hours of training since getting back into the swing of things after school let out. If I come back into form on all fronts I should have a very good summer of races.

It was a fashionable finish... ;-)