Georgia Veterans Triathlon

There is some bad news (posted in body shop), but the good news from this race is that I improved over last year by almost 10 minutes. It was a sprint tri with a 400 yd swim (I think it was more like 500, but it didn't matter), a 13.6 mile bike section, followed by a 5K run. I have no idea what my splits were, as my timing chip fell off along the way - I think it probably got ripped off in the mayhem that is a mass swim start. I finished in 1:01:24, good for 4th overall and first masters. All of the people that I know did better than last year by different amounts, so I was proud of them as well. I was close to a friend of mine, so when they post the race splits, I'll make guesses at the splits and post something more detailed...

!!! First masters and just off the podium! That's an awesome result, John. Should give you some consolation for the ass issue for sure!

Congrats John.

Ok, have not yet checked the blog - but woohoo on a job well done!

wow great job! congratulations!!!

awesome, but the swim start sound scary!

Mike MacLellan wrote:!!! First masters and just off the podium! That's an awesome result, John. Should give you some consolation for the ass issue for sure!

Thanks Mike - that's what friends are for - my training buddy told me after the race - "now if you had just run a little faster you would of finished top 3". Smart ass..... The ass issue is still up in the air - wait, I don't know if I can say that here

Randy E wrote:Congrats John.

Thanks Randy

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Ok, have not yet checked the blog - but woohoo on a job well done!

Thanks Michele

Julie wrote:wow great job! congratulations!!!

Thanks Julie

Michael Enright wrote:awesome, but the swim start sound scary!

Thanks - swim start wasn't near as scary as last year - sort of get used to it, but sprints suck b/c there is no room for pacing in the swim - basically it's just crank out what you have. You feel like you basically go anaerobic in the first minute and then just hang on. I actually had one guy grab my leg this year - actually sort of made me crack up while I was swimming....
This is what the swim is basically like




OK, so the splits for everyone else are posted, so I was able to make
some educated guesses at my splits based on how I was compared to a
buddy that finished close to me..



Swim: 400 yds in 6:24, pace = 1:36/100 yds

T1: 1:50 (sort of slow, but included was a longish run to the transition area)

cycle: 13.6 miles in 32:45, pace - 24.9 mph

T2: 40 seconds

Run: 5K in 19:45, pace = 6:21

Swim start was the usual free-for-all. I started in the front row and came out I think 3rd or 4th of my group despite a lot of kicking, smacking, and getting kicked and whacked by others. It sucks, but it sort of funny at the same time (see above video). It was awesome this year to not get passed on the bike leg. As I was in the second wave, so it was sort of fun to have a bunch of people in front of me as targets to try to catch and pass if I could. I was really surprised at how well the bike leg went - it is also nice to pretty much be over the feeling of having jello legs when I hop off of the bike to begin the run. The run was sort of boring - not a lot of people in front, so not a lot of targets to try to catch. I heard one guy coming from behind me that ended up passing me and being the #2 overall - I looked to see if it was Tim, but it wasn't .

Thanks for the support 365ers...

Very nice performance - nice to bag a win in the masters...

Way to go nailing the masters win. Great job.

John Kilpatrick wrote: I heard one guy coming from behind me that ended up passing me and being the #2 overall - I looked to see if it was Tim, but it wasn't .

Thanks for the support 365ers...

Congrats again John and love the video and the reference.

Congrats!

Great job on the masters win!