Triathlon at Retirement

                                                                                 Multisport, what is that? In the Multisport Festival organized by USA triathlon there is: Triathlon (supersprint 250m swim - 5km bike- 1km run) (sprint triathlon, draft legal, 750m swim - 12mile bike - 5km run) Duathlon (supersprint 1km run - 5km bike - 1km run) (standard 10km run - 40km bike - 5km run) Aquabike (standard 1500m swim - 40km bike)  Aquathlon (standard 2.5km run -1000m swim - 2.5km run) Mixed relay (2 men 2 women) in Triathlon and Duathlon, each person completing a supersprint course I choose to participate in supersprint triathlon, supersprint duathlon, draft legal sprint triathlon and mixed relay triathlon. Because of my recent history of injuries, I was happy to stick to the shorter d...

This year, I participated in 3 national champion ship events: individual super sprint time trial triathlon, draft legal sprint triathlon and draft-legal mixed relay triathlon. I am now the youngest in my age group (65-69), and I hoped to place top 10, maybe top 5 in something. The first race was the super sprint time trial, which also was my first triathlon competition in 2023. I decided to use bike shoes for the ride (5k), and not try to save time by biking in running shoes as I did last year. I also swam the 250m in wetsuit, I have calculated that despite additional transit time to change, it is faster.  As this time trial has individual start, I had no idea of my position as the race progressed. But it felt ok, I passed people on the bike and on the run (1.2k), I shortened the gap to the runner in front of me. My time was 24.57 and it was enough for a second place in my age group! Way better than expected. Next day was the draft legal sprint triathlon (750m swim, 12-mile bike an...

On Saturday June 25 I did the individual sprint race in F60-64 and next day mixed team sprint relay 60-69. It was fun and intense, but I did not feel much pressure, as I knew I would have nothing to do with the podium.  Pre-race On Thursday before the races, it rained a little while we had a USA team photo and parade of nations. Elite races scheduled for Friday had their swim cancelled due to water contamination from the rains and their competition reverted to a duathlon (run-bike-run). By Saturday and age group races, water quality got restored and we did a normal triathlon. On Friday, it was bike check in and I looked over transition areas and course. We had not been allowed to swim or bike the course, only the run was available. This was because swim was in a harbor and obviously, it is not a place that normally allows swimming. Bike course was on busy roads, at times against the normal flow, so that was also a no-no. Instead, they provided videos, which I reviewed several times...