Sprint Race Review

Sprint Tri

Race Review

An important part of doing a good race and also growing as an athlete is race planning and review over all distances. While it’s especially important to make sure everything is dialed in over the half and full distance, having a good plan in a sprint can be the difference between success and failure, or in this case, beating your buddy.

Dave was building all summer to focus on a couple of half distance races in the fall, which fit perfectly with a summer filled with sprints. This local race is quite competitive and going in, Dave knew exactly who his competition would be. A local buddy had been beating Dave in triathlon of all distances for years, and Dave had never really tried to hang with him. Going into this sprint we focused heavily on the swim to make sure they excited the water together as part of an overall plan to give Dave the go ahead to bike as hard as he possibly could for 15 miles. It’s not often as a coach or as a triathlete that you give/receive the advice to bike all out without fear of consequences, but this being a local sprint and understanding the Dave’s only goal was to beat his buddy and push himself like never before, it seemed the perfect fit.

The bike plan was to stick the power as close to 300 as he could for as long as he could. If the two were still together, Dave had the go ahead to try and hammer the very last hill to try and get out of his nemesis’s site on the way into transition.

In the end, the two stayed together until mile 2 of the run, when Dave’s friend finally pulled away. Dave ultimately finished 2nd AG and 4th OA. More importantly, though Dave pushed a new 30 minute best power and ran very well in his 5k, helping him discover just how deep he could dig in shorter races. Even Dave’s rival ended up with a new 30 minute best power chasing him!

Sometimes it’s just as important to push your limits as it is to consistently tick away training. I wouldn’t recommend this strategy in a longer race, or any “A” race, but trying to hang on to a new fast group ride, or jumping up a lane in the pool, or really going for it in a small race, is a great way to push your limits. Even though you’re likely to be shot back to reality fairly quickly, you just might have a break through and realize what you’re actually capable of.