5/22/10 - Memphis in May sprint race

I just signed up for this race a few weeks ago and decided to do the sprint on sat and the Olympic race on Sunday. The whole family wanted to go so we packed up all the camping gear and headed for Memphis. They were forecasting a hot and humid weekend, so i was still not sure camping was the best thing to do. But I am racing cheap this year. We got to Memphis, picked up my race packets, and set up camp. There were a few other folks camping as well but not too many. We got to camp a few hundred feet from transition so that was really nice.
The sprint race had about 400 people in it and started at 8am, it was nice to be able to have some coffee and breakfast overlooking the transition. I signed up for an amateur challenge (thanks Thomas), which combined the times from the sprint and Olympic races and paid 15 deep men and women. But I soon found out I was not the only one.
I got my transition setup and really should of come down earlier, it was open racking and I did not get the best spot. The race ended up starting at about 8:15 since it was so humid and foggy. I was debating wearing my full wetsuit or not since the water was not cold 77, but in the end decided to wear it anyway.

I started close to the front as it was a time trial start by age group every 3 sec. The swim seemed short but it was a sprint so it was and I was not too hot. I got out at 4:42, a decent T1 and was on the bike. I had to run in my bike shoes through T1 since the bike out was uphill and decided to not clip my shoes on the bike. It was the better choice I think. The bike felt good I tried to keep my power around 320 watts the whole time, but still not going to hard still thinking about the race on Sunday which was more important than the sprint. It was hot and humid out but the sun was not beating down yet so it was bearable. The end of the bike came up really fast and I had to get my shoes off quickly. My bike of my computer was 30.07 for 12.9 miles, 25.6 avg mph and 317 avg watts. T2 was quick, but that was probably because I did not pull my shoe laces tight.

The run I really enjoyed it was all grass or single-track dirt path. I did stop to tighten my shoes down the first trail out of sight from the spectators. I think the run was slower on grass and dirt but nicer on the joints for sure. But you did have to lookout for the holes in the grass and dirt since it was not flat at all. Anyway the run was hot but I felt good, at the last mile I could see the leader of the race and knew I had to catch him even though it was a time trial start and it did not matter. So I pushed a little bit at the end and overtook him with a few hundred meters to go. I crossed the line first at 53:21, only beating 2nd place by 3 sec and third by 6 sec which I would not know for a little while longer. My run was 16:59 for a 5:40 pace.

After the race the sun came out and it started to get really hot, all I could think about was the Sunday race now. We swam with the kids for a little while after the race.
After awards since it was so hot we took the kids to see Shrek 3 in the AC then out to dinner before getting in the hot tent for the night.
So now I just had to keep my lead in the Olympic race Sunday to win the amateur challenge.

Swim - 4:42 

T1 - 1:10   

Bike - 29:40  24.3 

T2 - 0:52   

Run - 16:59  5:40  

Total - 53:21