Today I participated in the annual Anthem Holiday Classic Sprint Triathlon! The first time I did this race was back in 2006, and it hasn't really changed much since then. The course has altered slightly, but it's mostly the same.
It starts with an 8 lap swim in a heated, outdoor pool. It's great that the pool is heated, since it's pretty cold outside. But, once you get out of the pool, it is FREEZING! Then, getting on the bike makes it even colder, but oh well. I get through it by convincing myself that I'm not the only one feeling cold.
The bike starts out weaving through the parking lot of the Anthem Community Center, then there's a nice little uphill climb for the first half of the bike loop. It's not actually that steep, and not actually that long, but coming to an incline right out of transition is not the funnest thing in the world. Overall, the bike portion is pretty smooth. It's three loops on nicely paved roads, so not really too much to complain about.
The run takes you through a beltway-type area, behind a bunch of homes and out to a main road. From there, you run South for about half a mile, do a 180* turn, and run around the block to the finish.
Overall this was a fun race. I did not do any proper training for a sprint triathlon, since my main focus right now is completing the Goofy Challenge in January, and possibly trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. And on top of not training, my family returned from vacation on Thursday night, only to find out that all of us had picked up some sort of cold/flu bug. But, no excuses. I did as well as I could have under the circumstances, and set a PR for this particular course. I ended up finishing in 8th place in my age group, and 43rd overall. My final time was 1:10:43. Now on the agenda, get over this sickness because next week is my last heavy week of training before the big Goofy Challenge!
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