The Falmouth Sprint Triathlon is the second of the 3 race New England Triathlon Tour I had registered for this summer.
(In case you missed it, you can read the recap of the first (and my first triathlon!), the Hyannis Sprint Tri HERE!)
My friend Patrick, who I did Hyannis with, was supposed to join me for this race also, but unfortunately he ended up having to go on a business trip and was out of the country. Luckily, I had also somehow convinced my cousin Michael and his girlfriend Marisa (both first time triathletes!) that this sounded like a fun idea, so I wasn’t alone!
We went down to Surf Drive Beach on Friday night to pick up our race packets and take a look around. (Being new to the whole triathlon thing I find it helpful to be able to check out the area beforehand!)
Race morning I met Mike and Marisa bright and early and we headed over!
How gorgeous was this transition area right on the beach! It was such a beautiful day, we could even see Martha’s Vineyard across the water!
We unloaded our bikes, set up our transition area, picked up our ankle timing chips, got permanent markered and then wandered around to try to find our families who were meeting us there to spectate!
After saying hello to our families, we headed over to the swim start…
THE SWIM (1/3 mile)
So if you read my recap of the Hyannis Triathlon you may remember I seriously struggled on the swim. Like felt claustrophobic/ had a panic attack type of struggled.
Obviously the smart thing to do would have been to spend some time working on my open water swim. And I did! For all of about 2 minutes one day earlier this week at the beach. Other than that I literally have not swam since the last triathlon. (NOTE: This is NOT a good plan. Do NOT follow this triathlon training plan!)
Needless to say I again, struggled on the swim. Not so much in the “holy crap my wetsuit is trying to choke me” type of way, but more of a “I haven’t swam in a month and this 1/3 of a mile feels like 3 miles” type of way.
Marisa on the other hand is a rock star swimmer and totally killed it! She finished the swim in 6:32 and was the 3rd one out of the water for our wave!
Honestly, the entire swim all I could think was a) I’m an idiot, I should have trained more for this…b) I am seriously not a fan of swimming in open water with so many people…and c) am I there yet??
Whew. Finally done!
Swim Time – 10:58
TRANSITION 1
Socks. Sneakers. Sunglasses. Helmet. Bike. See ya!
T1 Time – 1:47
THE BIKE (9 miles)
The bike was hilly and it was hard, but it was absolutely gorgeous!
The course went along much of the route of the Falmouth Road Race (which I ran last year) along the shore and by Nobska Lighthouse to Woods Hole. The entire way out was along the water with amazing views and a much welcomed breeze.
Since I clearly wasn’t taking pictures while biking (because I’m just not that talented) below is a photo from the Falmouth Road Race last year – we biked this portion of the course in the reverse direction, and let me tell you it’s ALL uphill to get to that lighthouse!
I was passed by a few people on the bike, but same as last time I noticed almost all of them had road bikes (as opposed to my hybrid). Despite the hills I managed to keep about the same pace as I did during the Hyannis Tri (and in the spirit of being transparent about my training, I biked the same number of times I swam since the last tri…oops).
Michael is a strong biker and was the only one of the 3 of us that had a road bike so he totally dominated that leg!
Coming into transition between the bike & run!
Bike Time – 38:52
TRANSITION 2
T2 Time – :56
THE RUN (3.1 miles)
Ah, my comfort zone.
Even with the hilly bike course (and probably using my legs A LOT more than I should have in the swim!) I felt great as soon as I started running.
The run was an out and back on the road right along the beach and then on the Shining Sea Bike Path, which is one of my favorite places to run up here!
The last 100 yards or so to the finish were again on the beach…
…and right past the finish line was a huge inflatable slip n’slide!
Seriously, is there a better way to finish a race?!? I propose all races end with a slip n’slide.
Run Time – 28:41
OVERALL
Overall considering my training (or lack thereof), I’m happy with the way this race went. The weather was perfect, the course was gorgeous and it was a lot of fun having Michael and Marisa (who both totally rocked their first triathlons!) doing the race with me!
(We did determine that between the 3 of us we’d make a great relay team though for a longer distance since we each have a leg that we excel at!)
OVERALL TIME – 1:21:13
2 down, 1 to go!
I’ll be repeating the Hyannis course on September 6th!
**A big THANK YOU to my dad and Jason for all the awesome race day pictures! I have some great videos too that I’ll try to post at some point!**
Live, Run, Grow 
Sounds pretty cool! You had great weather this weekend also.
Thanks! And yes, the weather was amazing!
Congratulations on your tri! It looks amazing! And I might even be willing to conquer my fear of the swim part if I know there’s a slip and slide at the end! That’s freaking awesome!
Haha, thanks Kellie! I thought the slip n’slide was such a fun idea!
I still think you’re a rockstar for giving tris a try! Sorry for the cheesy pun. But it looks like you had fun!
Thanks! Honestly, I was having fun once I started running…the swim and the first half of the bike I kept thinking “what the heck am I doing?!?”
Congratulations!!
Great job on the race! Open water swimming is totally different than in the pool, so even practicing there is not the same as race environment.
If you ever get a chance to upgrade to clip in bike shoes, I totally recommend it! Sat was the first race with my new bike shoes and my legs felt SO MUCH better when going to the run (they didn’t feel like lead logs). Lost a bit of time in transition compared to last race, but still finished faster. I’m sure you would too! Good luck in Sept!!!
Thanks! I’d love to try clip in shoes, but until I really decide if biking/ triathlons is something I’m going to keep up with I’m hesitant to spend the money.
Looking forward to reading the recap of your recent tri, it sounds like you did awesome!
CONGRATS! This looks so awesome. I’ve totally had that “holy crap, I should have trained more” feeling, too, haha. I know 1/3 of a mile feels like nothing while running, but one lap across a pool and I’m pretty much dying…so I can’t even imagine what the open water swim is like. Regardless, you killed it! I am SO signing up for a tri — I’m loving reading about your experiences! P.S. Ending the race with a slip n’ slide?! EPIC. 😀
Thanks! (There’s still the one in September if you feel like a weekend on the Cape ; )
Congrats on your second one! It does sound like you guys would make a great relay! Having a road bike would make such a difference. I’m in the same boat training wise. Have a tri in 2 weeks and I JUST started swimming and biking. Oops!
I’m actually contemplating renting a road bike to try out and if I like it I may rent one for the next triathlon. I’m hesitant to buy one since I’m still not sure there are more tri’s in my future!
Good luck on yours!
You are such a freaking rock star! I’ve been eagerly waiting to read this post today. So proud of you and your determination to keep on tri’ing…eh, see what I did there? 😉 Love the race photos. And maybe someday I’ll get on board…
Haha, thanks Christine! You would totally rock the swim!
Glad to see no run-ins with some hangry sharks! Looks like you’re making some awesome-sauce progress. Think someone’s gonna totally rock her third tri! 🙂
Haha, thanks! I really need to motivate myself to swim between now and then!
What a great recap! It looked like you had fun the whole way! I want to get into tris, but I’d prefer it if we had an ocean for the swim instead of some gross old lake. Oh well, we’ll see! Congrats again!
Well then it sounds like you’re going to need to choose a fun ocean-y place for a destination race ; )
Some solid transition times Danielle, nice job! Swim and bike…well, a little training will work wonders but you already know that! As a runner you always have the advantage of looking forward to the final discipline and that mental boost goes a long way!
It didn’t look like you wore a wetsuit this time…were they not allowed or did you just not rent one after your previous experience??
Nice job out there, and good luck with the next one!
Yay!! Congrats on Tri #2!! And how cool that it ended with a slip’n’slide!!