Culpeper Sprint Triathlon
750m swim - 15mi bike - 5k run

Located in the Appalachain foothills, Culpeper, VA is a small community with a great view of the mountains. I awoke at 3:45 AM and left by 4:30 arrive at the race site by 6:15. Traffic was very light so the journey was quite relaxing. The swim was located in the man-made lake, bike course on rolling hills (not much flat at all) and the run included three hill climbs as well. Here's the run down:

The Good:
5/10 in division on swim: 18:20

The Bad:
Bike mount/dis-mount was a good 100 yards from transition. What, run in my cycling shoes? I think not!

All the liquid consumed pre-T2 was ejected - at full force - after the major hill climb on the run course. This is becoming a trend...

The Good (part 2):
I felt MUCH better after the spewing and turned on the running legs. I must have passed all those who passed me. It wasn't that I was overworked, but had way too much volume in my stomach after the bike. It doesn't help that the temperature maxed at 80 and not the 90 they were predicting. That is, I didn't need to replace e-lytes and water that would be needed on a hot, humid day.

The Ugly:
A woman I passed on the bike was wearing her helmet backwards. I wasn't going to slow down to tell her, it's a race after all.

My feet held up very well for not wearing socks on the bike. I could feel hot spots but nothing that lead to blisters.


I could have kept going but they made me stop. I could have raced 2 loops per event that day. They gave out a cool shirt so it was a good race and one I'd do again. This race was a good confidence builder for the Olympic distance in September.