Camp Pendleton Sprint Triathlon 2012

Saturday, August 4th marked my first sprint distance triathlon. I didn't really know what to expect with these shorter distances but was excited nonetheless. We decided to make the drive in the morning, so we were up by 3:40am to get out the door and make the 2-hour drive.

Unloading before heading towards the transition area.

Camp Pendleton is a naval base with dozens and dozens of these huge hovercrafts. The base sponsors this even every year and it was so well organized. 

The transition area.

This was the second or third swim wave. I was in the first swim wave so was probably almost out of the water. 

This guy did the race without legs. His sweet trike is all arm powered. What an amazing guy. 

The bike course was quick and flat (relatively). I pushed harder because I knew it was only 30km. I even carried less liquid and only one gel. My Dad shouted my name but I couldn't look in time. 

The first 1/4 mile of the bike and run is all uphill. Usually this would suck, but it helped my muscles transition from the bike to the run relatively quickly. I have a lot of hill work to do when I head back to Taiwan. 

The run course is all on base. The marines line up along the course to cheer you on and give you motivation. It was also cool seeing all the hover crafts and running alongside the hangars. 

Official time was 1:33:06, which put me 7th in my age group and 98th overall. 

I love this feeling. It's a mixture of pride and wanting to nap in a warm jacuzzi that massages you and feeds you unhealthy snacks until you've recovered. 

Andreas and I both sported the Radioshack jersey. I got a lot of compliments during the race. 

Here's our little group. L --> R: James, Markus, Me, Andreas

Big fan. 

Swim: 12:29. I'm happy with this considering the amount of current we had.
T1: 1:51
Bike: 55:51 Nice flat course. I need to cycle more.
T2: 1:15
Run: 21:40. I would not have been as fast if it wasn't for the servicemen cheering me on.
Total: 1:33:06

All in all, this was a well organized race and a fun first sprint triathlon. I'm a much bigger fan of the olympic distance though. I like having plenty of time to find a nice rhythm in all of the three disciplines. The official times and splits should be posted this week.