Crescent Moon Sprint Triathlon

750 Meter Swim * 11.5 Mile Bike * 5K Run

The Crescent Moon is a late season race that has been blessed with great weather for the three years that I have done it. It is a small race of 600 people at a venue that I know well. Really, it is a perfect race to end the season with. There was one problem this year however, and that was my desire. I really had none. The day before the race I was seriously considering not doing it. I was tired and a bit depressed and just had no desire to get up at 5:00 am, swim in a lake etc etc. I really battled with this decision but fortunately I started feeling better by the end of the day and found myself packing my tri bag.

The day of the race I did the things we all do on race morning. Find the best spot in transition that you can, get body marked, set up your gear and contemplate when the best time is to get in the line for the Port-a-Potty (I assume I am not the only one who contemplates this but I could be wrong).
As is always the case at this race, my wave was the last to go off so I had plenty of time to stand around and think. On an occasion or two I found myself thinking "maybe I will just sit this one out".

                     Looking longingly at the spectators and the big climb to T1

 Once I was in the water my mood shifted a bit and my goal was to get out of it ASAP.

                                                            OK, that is done!

They moved the transition to a different location which in turn provided us with an extremely long run/walk from the swim exit to T1. And of course it was all up hill. We even had a few sets of stairs to climb. The only positive change in this part of the race was the wetsuit strippers that they added this year. Those guys/gals rock!  The timing mat was at T1 so all of our swim times were minute(s) slower then our actual swim time.

The bike course also had some changes in that the entrance and exit were on bike paths. Riding on these paths was a bit tricky with a sharp turn or two and certainly not the safest route to take. My mood shifted a bit as I started out on the bike.

The bike is my strongest event and unlike the run where I have resigned myself to having people of all ages and sizes pass me, on the bike, my goal is always to beat my previous times and do my best to place as close to the top of my age group in that part of the race. While I thought I knew the bike course pretty well, apparently the person setting up the course did not. We later learned that he added an extra turn which added an additional 1.3 miles to the course. You can imagine the confusion and reactions when the times were posted and the bike speed was calculated based off 11.5 miles and not the actual 12.8. I had looked at my computer and was aware of what happened.

T2 was pretty quick but the time I spent heading out on the run course wasn't. Some leg cramping didn't make things any faster. After mile 1 was complete and we were on dirt paths, things improved for mile 2. The final mile was better then the first but not as good as the second. Truthfully, I was just happy to be finishing.

                                              Fortunately this was down hill

After the race a couple of friends and I hung out for the raffle with the hope of winning the grand prize Zipp wheels.

 While that didn't happen, one of my friends did win a Rudy Project aero helmet. You might think this is strange but I was really hoping that I wouldn't win it. My friends always joke about me needing an aero helmet and I can't imagine EVER wearing one of those.

In terms of times and placements, I placed 10 out of 22 in my age group and had the third fastest bike split. Really the only HUGE difference between the top finishers and me is that they can run four minutes per mile faster then I can. Oh well, what are you going to do? :)

In other news, I now have the Adamo saddle on my bike. I have only tried it out for a very short time but I have high hopes for it. I hope to provide a report of it in the near future.


Happy Fall Everyone! (where did summer go?)