Parris Island Triathlon Race Report

As written here: http://www.teamsportfactory.com/2011/03/nick-sykes-parris-island-triathlon/

I began the pool swim 18th having entered myself in the open section – which benefits me a lot more once I get on the bike so that I don’t have to pass people every other pedal stroke. I swam a PR 9:05 in the water, although I had hoped for a little faster, and got into transition fairly quickly. Since it was my first race on my triathlon bike I chose to put my shoes on in transition. The transition area was also a little rocky so I didn’t really want to be barefoot on it during both transitions. Heading onto the bike I was shooting (rather ambitiously) for the course record of 25:12 for 10 miles. I quickly picked off some of the cyclists just ahead of me and probably made my way up to inside the top 10 on the road. With the staggered pool start, though, I could have been anywhere. My first 5 miles took 12:18, a little slower than the pace I thought I would ride but still well under the pace that I thought would break 25:12. The next 5 miles took us out to a golf course and back. Coming back it was evident that there was more wind than I originally thought. I battled through the wind and came through 10 miles in 25:06… unfortunately, the course turned out to be 10.63 miles. I got into transition with a 6th best bike split of 26:58 and hit the run start 44 seconds later. By the time I was running, the day was beginning to heat up. I was surprised that there were no aid stations on the run course at all but I had, at least, had some water on the bike. I’m not sure I changed position at all on the run, but I did close the gap down in front of me slightly. I started out rather slow on the run, hitting 1 mile in 6:28 – well off my goal pace of sub-18 for 5k. I knew the course was going to be short of 5k anyway, but I just couldn’t make my legs want to go faster. I slowly picked it up with a 6:15 second mile and managed to cruise home in 5:18 for 0.85 miles (6:14 pace) to finish the run in 18:01. Overall I finished 14th of 430 athletes in 56:02, and would have been 2nd in my age group if I had not raced in the open division.

Going forwards I can definitely improve on my swim a lot more, my bike has some room for improvement too, and I just need to learn how to push myself off the bike. I know I can run sub-6 miles in a sprint.