Mossman Sprint Triathlon Race Report

On Sunday, Beth and I did the Mossman Sprint Triathlon at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk, CT.

I have a small history with this race, my first DNS back in 2008 when my eyes got terribly infected with pink eye and corneal infiltrators. Long story short, I didn't want to jump into Long Island Sound with infected eyes and race. But! I have always kept this race on the radar. I wanted to do a sprint race this year and this was the one that best fit my busy 2012 race schedule. So here goes!!!

The Nitty Gritties:
Total Time: 1:07:23
Overall: 25/531
Age Group: 1/36 (M30-34) BAM!!!
Satisfaction Level: Overwhelming!

Pre Race:
Uh, I spent 4 days out on the North Fork of Long Island riding my butt off, so after a 3.5 hour ride going from the North Fork to the South Fork and across Shelter Island (including the ferries) and back to the North Fork, then dropping 100 miles in 4:47:xx the next day, I would say I was NOT tapered at all for this race. It was a sprint race after all!

Then Saturday we went back to NYC for dinner and a show, getting home before midnight with the alarm set for 4AM. Uhg. 4 hours of sleep anyone?

I warmed up for 5 mins in the water, which, for the Long Island Sound, didn't taste very salty....(I HATE salt water!!!)

Swim: 11:41
I was in wave #2. I hadn't swam in almost a week, but I felt good! It was a short short distance to the first turn buoy before you settle in along the length of the beach before turning towards shore.

I went out VERY aggressively and just hung onto the leaders. With only one bad sighting error, I hung with the leaders for most of the way and wound up coming out of the water in 11:41 (not knowing I was already in the lead of my AG)

T1: 1:36
I just transitioned....

Bike: 32:56
So after biking tons of miles days before and zero sleep, this is where my body would either just be flat or would charge ahead.

It charged ahead!

Since I was in wave #2 and one of the first out of the water in that wave, I had super super clear road ahead of me. Unfortunately the bike is a two looper and as I was approaching transition for the start of loop #2, I saw the traffic that I would need to work through. It wasn't too  bad! EVERYONE was staying to the right and nobody was veering. It was awesome! Thank you fellow racers! Beth saw me as she was finishing loop #1, and was WAY ahead of where I thought she was going to be. I knew she was having a good day!

I evenly split the two loops, finishing loop #2 one second off. I held 22 flat for the course. This was actually a rather technical course with lots of turns, so you had to bleed off a ton of speed at the corners before accelerating again. I was working the bike pretty hard the entire time. VERY happy with this bike split

T2: 1:25 (estimate)
Since they lumped T1 time + bike time together, they also lumped the T2 time + run time together. Next season I am going to make a point of getting my transitions down faster. I know how to do a flying dismount, yet I don't do em. I need to run sockless with pull and synch lases only. Next season!!!


Run: 20 mins (estimate)
Didn't run with a watch. I recall leaving transition and the clock saying 50:xx and finishing with the clock saying 1:10:xx, so I am calling this 20 mins.

It was so strange starting the run this far ahead of everyone else. Basically I was in this fuzzy zone of the race. The elites were all way ahead of me. Everyone else was behind me. Some of the run directions were fuzzy and there were volunteers not paying attention. I had to yell for directions a few times!!!

The run course was basically a 1.55 mile up, 1.55 mile down. Running up sucked, but I kept reminding myself that the 2nd half would fly by! And it did! On my way down, I was keeping track of how many women I saw coming the other way, then I saw Beth, knowing she was way up in her age group.

But I had no idea where I was in my age group, but I had a feeling I was leading it. Only a couple people passed me on the run, but they were either younger or older than me. I was still running like someone was after me! (Zombie training)

Good thing I kept my effort up and I ended up winning my age group. The 2nd place finisher in my age group ran the 3rd fastest run of the day and made up 3 mins on me! If it were a 10K, I would have been caught.

After thoughts:
After finishing and drinking some water, I hung by the finish eagerly waiting on Beth's finish. She came in not far after me with a 1st place in her age group as well! Great job!

Winners!!!

What a great race! Glad I came back to do this race. It truly is a gem of a race. Small (well, 532 finishers is a good #), LOCAL!, and full of people I know. I love the low pressure of local races vs the big circus of a WTC event.

This race was also a confirmation of my fitness. Looking at the results, I actually went wire to wire in my age group! Yay Ironman training!

Instead of a trophy or medal they gave out gift certificates for a free entry into next year's race! Sweet! Basically an $85 value! I will take that! Guess I already have a race on the docket for next year. Gotta defend my title!!!