Race Report: Janesville Triathlon

I've been a little busy the past week, and my internet was down for a few days, so I'm a little behind on blogging.  Last weekend, I did the Janesville Triathlon.  Three years ago this was my first triathlon.  I was anxious to return to it, but they lost sponsor support and the race was cancelled.  This year it made a comeback with new sponsors and a new venue.

The swim was a little different than most tris, because it's in the Rock River and it's a time trial start.  It was first come first serve, and I wanted to get a spot toward the front of the line, but I putzed around a little too long and ended up being one of the last in line.

 The front of the line.  I'm not even in this picture.

The swim was a half mile with the current so it was smoking fast.  There's not a whole lot to say about it.  I swam hard, passed as many people as I could and came out of the water in about 8:30. 

I look like I have a motor.  There may have been a bit of a current.

T1 was smooth and fast and then my favorite discipline, the bike.  Being a TT start, I had no idea where I was so I just hammered the bike and figured I'd just run the whole event as fast as possible and see where I end up after it's over.  The bike course was great, and I had a ton of fun.  I forget my time, but I averaged a little over 24 mph and ended up with the fastest bike split.

Heading out of T1.

 My parents anxiously awaiting my return from the bike.

The run course was tougher than I expected.  I thought it was going to be flat, but no.  It started by running us through the Farmer's Market, which was pretty cool. Everyone was cheering and it brought a lot of energy to the race.  Then the course turned uphill and that's where I struggled a bit.  I pushed hard the whole time but faded a little and finished the run in 20:26.  My overall time was a 1:05 something, which I later found out put me in 2nd overall and 1st in my age group.  One of my Geargrinder teammates, Robbie Greco, took 5th overall and 1st in his age group.  He set the fastest swim split of the day and I had the fastest bike split so I think Geargrinder did pretty well for only having two people there.

 The finish.

It was really cool to go back to my first tri and do well.  Janesville is also my hometown so my parents were watching, which is always motivating.  Plus, I really wanted to support this event.  Hopefully they can continue to secure good sponsors and keep this event going strong for several years.

 Me and Robbie.

Later in the day Courtney and I went to Madison's fireworks, Rhythm and Booms....

 

 Me and Courtney waiting for the fireworks to begin.