Mid-Week Super Sprint

On the heels of the San Diego WTS race, local race director Lars Finanger organized a "Super Sprint" triathlon this past Wednesday, April 24.  

The race format was: (1 loop 375m swim, 5-loop 6K Bike, 2-loop 1.5K run)--all twice through.  The whole race was set up in a large parking lot directly across from Fiesta Island (an island park in San Diego where the first-ever triathlon was held).   The motivation behind organizing a super-sprint triathlon was two-fold:

(1) To give triathletes a chance to develop the technical skills which are critical in world-class triathlon events

(2) To give spectators a chance to actually watch the excitement and speed of a short-course, draft-legal triathlon 

Now for a quick side note--I'm uniquely qualified to discuss the importance of these technical skills.  When I first started in triathlons a few years ago I dismissed the technical elements of the sport--including transitions and bike skills--as unimportant.  I saw the sport as a challenge to go as hard as I could, and I was successful with this approach.  It wasn't until last year that I was racing at such a high level that these weaknesses were exposed.  I love focusing on pushing myself, but I love winning even more.  Last year my transitions and technical skills were so bad that I wasn't putting myself in a position to win my races.  

  

My race provided a good opportunity to chart my growth over the past winter.  I've been working on both my transitions and my bike handling, so I was excited to see how it translated to a technical race.  Plus, how often is it that you get to run and dive into the water for a second swim?  The format reminded me of a lifeguard race back on the Jersey Shore.  

There was also some good media coverage there.  Here are links to photo galleries and articles from both Slowtwitch and Triathlete Magazine:  

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2013/04/news/groff-royle-win-fearless-pro-super-sprint_74488

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Features/2013_Mission_Bay_Super_Sprint_3561.html

Enjoy the race as it unfolded:

Race Start- 18 men qualified for the 6:30pm final

Exit from Swim #1

Working the turn on Bike #1

Run #1 was a critical point in the race--Royle, Vidal, Ivan Vasiliev, and I opened a gap on the rest of the field 

Love this picture of the afternoon sky as I dive in for the second swim.  Just ahead of me are Aaron Royle (Australia) and Laurent Vidal (France)

Exiting up the boat ramp after the second 375m swim

Our group worked together on the second bike to go into the second bike-run transition with a large gap (25-30seconds) on the rest of the field

I took the final run out hard to try to drop Ivan Vasiliev and catch Vidal (who was just ahead).  My heart was willing, but my legs didn't quite follow.  I ended up getting out-sprinted for 3rd place.  I was disappointed to miss the podium by 2 seconds, but I was happy with my race as a whole.  I also received some nice compliments from a few people spectating.  Race announcer and former Ironman World Champion Greg Welch told me he "loved how hard I raced."  

Finally, below is a photo showing a nice compliment from Triathlete Magazine's Aaron Hersh.  He wrote a caption, "While he seemed a bit disappointed to have finished the final run last of the four leaders, Maloy raced brilliantly to make the elite selection and showed a lot of promise."