2016 West Point Sprint Triathlon Report

This past weekend a bunch of friends and  I took part in the 2016 edition (26th Annual)  West Point sprint triathlon.  This popular local triathlon held at Camp Buckner, in West Point NY , just a short distance from the US Military Academy campus. The race itself is a  sprint triathlon, Its a  800m swim, 14mile bike and 5k run.

Pre-Race

This year again I would be doing the complete triathlon and several other friends would join in  doing the triathlon relay. Christine fielded a hopefully winning all-male relay squad, with our  friend Jared starting off the swim, followed by Tony T. on the Bike and Drew on the run.

SWIM

The weather was pretty hot these last few days, so this year, This year water temps were  over 78 so not wet suit-legal. The lake swim is an 800m swim on a  counter clockwise rectangular course. After cheering on Jared who was doing the relay leg, I waited, and waited being in the last leg.. I was going in with a neighbor and pretty strong triathlete Richard..

The swim started out well, again water conditions were just about perfect. because of the clear conditions, and minimal sun glare.  A bit of jostling about 300m in , but otherwise little contact at the beginning and I felt like I was making good progress as I navigated cleanly along the bouy line.  The second turn bouy lined us up nicely with the finishing leg, and sun-glare was minimal and it was easy to spot the remaining bouys. maintaining a good line I kept slowly moving forward, but perhaps should have pushed a little harder near the end.  Unlike last year this year’s times were a bit more reasonable I guess they measured the course right.

BIKE

T1 felt ok, wet-suit came off quick and the helmet & glasses went on pretty well. Then it was just a matter of cranking out the miles. I was riding my Cervelo p3 this time, i wanted to give it a shale out before deciding between it and the Shiv.. Richard, a much better rider and runner, went by me just out of T1 , but I managed to catch up to him albeit for a few minutes near mile 2.  Then came the long slog up near mile 4 and I was dropped.  Then to the turn around and then back down the long, and unlike last year, less harrowing descent. I was still a little more aggressive this year on the descent reaching just to 40mph near the bottom , the bike felt stable. The middle miles went by quick as a mostly flat course with a few bumps, lets you settle into a rhythm.

Near the second turn around there’s another long fast descent and again keeping a careful watch on my speed, the 180 degree turn around leads you back up the slow long climb for about a mile, before you crest the climb and begin your last 5 miles back into T2. The second climb ar about mile 10 is longer than the first, but not as steep , then once you crest the top its mostly rolling and downhill, back to T2.  Finally within I mile I un-Velcro my shoes, and prepared for a quick dismount and run into T2.

Bike Course Video

RUN

T2 was pretty quick with no bike shoes to undo, I just sat down and grabbed my running shoes. Again it was hot, around 85F degrees, and the humidity wasn’t helping. I know how bad i run in the heat and I was dreading this 5k, but I started chugging along and started putting some distance between myself and transition. Did I mention how searing hot and humid it was.  Luckily a well placed water station before the climb, helped deal with my thirst. But I really wasn’t going anywhere, looking down at my watch I was runnign 9:30/mile pace, just pathetic.. I never really got much faster . I managed to keep an a measured tempo up the hill passing a few other earlier wave folks.. Then it was back down the climb..

As usual a a slow  stream of faster runners passed me little by little. Running back along side the transition area, I saw Christine  and Devang cheering my on, that was nice, the it was one more final dog leg, to the  turn around point at about mile 2.7 , As I approached the finish I was mortified to see 29m for a 5k! just sad 🙁 . then is was grunt and bear it towards the finish..

POST RACE

Then . it was onto some post race food, and chilling Sadly the relay team missed on on first in their division by a few seconds…

My performance was slightly better than last year but mostly due to a faster swim . Bike was about the same , disappointing to me as I felt faster, and run continues to be my weakest discipline.

But performances not withstanding we had a bunch of fun, and it was nice to see all our old buddies.

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* westuit legal