2013 Mossman Sprint Triathlon

This morning’s Mossman Sprint triathlon in Norwalk, Ct. was my first tri of the season, and only my third in total. The first two Sprint tri’s were last summer. After two miserable swims in last year’s races, my only concern for this race was a strong confident swim. I’m not fast in the water, but my biggest problem last year wasn’t speed, but nerves. Despite comfortable open water training swims, when I started the swims in last years races, both times my heart rate immediately spiked, and I was for all intents and purposes, dead in the water. I was determined not to let that happen this year. Before today’s race, I got in 7 or 8 open water training swims, and each one was stronger than the last, so I was reasonably confident that I’d be ok for the race. Long story short, the swim (in the Long Island Sound) was exactly what I hoped it would be. Strong and steady, if not fast, with none of the nerve problems that caused the heart rate to spike like it did last year. As a result, I covered the ½ mile swim in about 15 ½ minutes. Even with finishing the swim towards the back of my wave, I still got out of the water feeling great about how it went. The 12-mile bike ride was strong and uneventful. Unfortunately my bike computer crapped out so I don’t know what my average mph was. I did a fair amount of passing, and also got passed by some stronger cyclists.  I then covered the 5k run in 21:36 for a 7:12/mile pace. I only got passed twice on the run, once by a fast 27-year-old woman (ages are written with a marker on the calves of all competitors) and later on by 49-year-old guy (three years my junior, but that one pissed me off). Otherwise, I did all the passing on the run. My finishing time was 1:24:40. They haven’t posted the final results on their site yet, so I don’t know how I placed, but until I get faster in the water, I can’t count on placing very high in my AG.
Now that I seem to be past the nerve issues in the water, I can concentrate on both getting faster in the water and working on increasing my distance. The sprint distance is fun, but really not that much of a challenge (swimming issues aside). My goal for the summer is to do one more sprint and finish up the season with an Olympic distance race.

Nice job, Seth. You did well in the running after swimming and biking. it takes time to do well in those, the good thing is the excellent cross training you are doing, it will only improve your overall fitness.

Congrats, Seth!  The swim is certainly a tough part of a tri.  I have only done 5 sprints and 1 Olympic myself and the swim gets me still - and I was a swimmer - in high school and college!!  Of course, 4 of the six races have been in this area and the weeds were really my issue.  Maybe we can both get our acts together and do a 1/2 Iron.

Way to go Seth, it is a great accomplishment to conquer the swim.  That will open the doors for improved performances in your upcoming races.  I do fine in the time trial starts but it's the mass starts that still get to me and I hope to be able to conquer my fears in my next one.

I'm confused Seth - I'm no great swimmer or anything, but 15 1/2 minutes for a half mile swim doesn't sound slow to me!  Sounds like you had a good time - Those freaking swim starts are nuts.  I remember looking at videos of those things from the surface and they don't look that bad - in the water they seem brutal.  I've only done a few triathlons myself, but I found that laughing helps me - I will actually laugh in the water during the swim because the whole thing is so absurd.  My one Olympic race was a lot of fun - the Sprints are challenging to me, but are over so quickly - the Olympic race gave a little more time to settle in.  Best of luck and good job!

Nice job!

Come back to CT and let me know you'll be here...

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Congrats, Seth!  The swim is certainly a tough part of a tri.  I have only done 5 sprints and 1 Olympic myself and the swim gets me still - and I was a swimmer - in high school and college!!  Of course, 4 of the six races have been in this area and the weeds were really my issue.  Maybe we can both get our acts together and do a 1/2 Iron.

Thanks Michele, a 1/2 iron is in the back of my mind, but I haven't even done an Olympic yet. It's all still new to me.

T Miller wrote:Way to go Seth, it is a great accomplishment to conquer the swim.  That will open the doors for improved performances in your upcoming races.  I do fine in the time trial starts but it's the mass starts that still get to me and I hope to be able to conquer my fears in my next one.

Tim, this was all about conquering the fear. It wasn't even the mass start that got to me in the previous races, just a fear of the open water I think.

John Kilpatrick wrote:I'm confused Seth - I'm no great swimmer or anything, but 15 1/2 minutes for a half mile swim doesn't sound slow to me!  Sounds like you had a good time - Those freaking swim starts are nuts.  I remember looking at videos of those things from the surface and they don't look that bad - in the water they seem brutal.  I've only done a few triathlons myself, but I found that laughing helps me - I will actually laugh in the water during the swim because the whole thing is so absurd.  My one Olympic race was a lot of fun - the Sprints are challenging to me, but are over so quickly - the Olympic race gave a little more time to settle in.  Best of luck and good job!

John, I was confused about the same thing. First of all, the final results were posted and my swim time was actually 17 minutes,which doesn't seem to bad for a 1/2 mile swim. I was thinking that maybe it was shorter than they advertised, but it is a USAT sanctioned race, so I assume the distances are correctly measured.

Michael Enright wrote:Nice job!

 Thanks Michael!

JohnP wrote:Nice job, Seth. You did well in the running after swimming and biking. it takes time to do well in those, the good thing is the excellent cross training you are doing, it will only improve your overall fitness.

 Thanks John, no question the cross training is keeping me fit. Much more so than just running.

Great job way to get that swim done! I keep thinking about trying a tri........... maybe. I bet you felt great passing everyone on the run, way to finish strong what a great run!

amyjoann wrote:Great job way to get that swim done! I keep thinking about trying a tri........... maybe. I bet you felt great passing everyone on the run, way to finish strong what a great run!

 Thanks AmyJoann. Yeah, especially after bringing up the rear in the swim, blowing by people on the the run is always gratifying!

Nice job Seth.  Like the improvement in the swimming.

John Kilpatrick wrote:I'm confused Seth - I'm no great swimmer or anything, but 15 1/2 minutes for a half mile swim doesn't sound slow to me!  Sounds like you had a good time - Those freaking swim starts are nuts.  I remember looking at videos of those things from the surface and they don't look that bad - in the water they seem brutal.  I've only done a few triathlons myself, but I found that laughing helps me - I will actually laugh in the water during the swim because the whole thing is so absurd.  My one Olympic race was a lot of fun - the Sprints are challenging to me, but are over so quickly - the Olympic race gave a little more time to settle in.  Best of luck and good job!

 Jerry would be stuck with a float 100 yards from the start.

Nice strong performance, Seth! don't know if I'll ever attempt one, not even on my near future bucket list.