I swam the first 50 meters in pretty good form via crawl stroke. Then, with my excitement and lack of experience swimming, I began to resort to other strokes. I did mainly side-stroke for the remaining distance and often got into a good rythym. I did attempt to swim the final 25-50 in a crawl but the results were mixed. I definitely need to spend much more time lap swimming in the future.

Seeing as how I committed to doing this triathlon about four weeks ago and seeing as how I spent about 8 sessions in the pool (My first 8 sessions in 25-30 years.), I will definitely continue with my lap swimming and with receiving instruction.

TRansition wnet fairly well. I did have top sit down to put on my socks. There was an extended area between the transition and the mount/dismount area - something that surprised me.

I would get a race belt. I would also find an easier way ti slip on my helmet. Practice, practice, practice.

With no one in front of me and no one behind me, I struggled to maintain a consistent pace. I also struggled with finding the appropriate gear. I also stopped at the top of a hill to relieve myself (urinate).

First and foremost, I would ride a better bike. I rode a Fred Meyer psuedo-moutain bike speciual with wide knobby tires and no race computer. I would also wear bike shoes that clip into the pedal (rather than the plastic cages I had.

Pretty good transitionas all I had to do was rack my bike and exchange my helmet for my hat.

I found running without music to be much more difficult than anticipated as hearing my exhausted breathing took a psychological toll.

Harder than I ever expected it to be. Had some muscles aches. Also, I felt like I had too much water jostling through me. This was a major concern. Had six 30 second walks during my run and one 30 second stretch. Very hard to complete, but that last 50 meters felt awesome!

Train more with runs beyond 30 minutes.

Walked for about 800 meters, stretched, dreank Gatorade.


Lack of training and experience.


My first tri, and I completed it! I wanted to finish in less than two hours, and I finished in 1:44.08. Now, I have a target. I placed (first) in the Clydesdale division that did not include more than a couple others -frst-timers with similar body types and experince like mine.

For the first time in my life, I felt like an athlete. And, now, I am a triathlete! Thanks to everyone here for their support. Next week, I will begin one of the programmed training plans on this site so that for my next tri I can do even better.

One of my favorite parts of this race (my first race of any kind!) was encouraging fellow particpants and hearing race volunteers encouraging me.