Short, Awesome and Painful

That pretty much sums up what is the Super Sprint Triathlon Grand Prix that took place in Oceanside, CA yesterday.

Myself, along with 17 other of the worlds best toed the start line for an exciting new triathlon format that will be coming to the states next year. For this race we started on the beach and executed a 300m swim/5mi bike/1.5mi run and then right back in the water to do it again. 5 transitions, 6 all out components.

Not really knowing what to expect, other than tons of pain, I was really excited to try the new format. Some of the older gentleman, Matty, Macca, Richie, and the likes had done these races in Australia before so although some were at a bit of a speed disadvantage, experience proved to be just as important.

The first time through was like any other sprint race, really fast, transitions are important and you have to be near the front the whole time because there isn't enough time to make up much ground. And then we hit T3. I gotta say taking off the shoes, neatly of course so I could grab them again the next time, and running off putting my goggles back on was probably the strangest feeling I have ever had in a race. My legs were dead, I was trying to swing my arms to get the blood back in them, and meanwhile trying to run down the beach and crash back through the surf. Hardest thing I may have ever done in a race was fighting the waves to get back out for the 2nd swim. I stayed in good position but didn't catch a great wave on the way back in and had to do some catching up on the bike.

Unfortunately for me as I caught back up to the two leaders I towed with me the eventual 1st and 2nd place guys. On the run I slipped a bit from 3rd to 5th but managed to stay right with the leaders and finish the race top 5. All things considered, one of them being this was my 5th race in 6 weeks, it was a good effort and a ton of fun.

Best part, it was over in 45 min, and although I am sore I am not all that much worse for the wear today.

Huge thanks and congrats to Marc Lees and his team for pulling off a great race and putting on a first class event with some great competition. I for one can't wait to find out what five cities will be hosting these awesome events next year!

One more week, one more race till the end of my season. Off to Phoenix on Friday for the Amica Sprint Championship. Stay tuned for one last triathlon race report of the year.