Dunedin Rotary Triathlon-My First! - TriathlonSprint

Don't look at the time! For some reason on race day, they changed the direction of the swim to go against the current. This could be because last year, the times were blazingly fast. So, maybe they were trying to make the swim longer? It was either the current or the race layout, but everyone's swims were longer timewise than they should have been . The fastest swims were in the mid-8 min. range. Last year they were in the upper-5 min's. So, definitely something off here.
Anyways, going into this, I was most concerned about the swim. Shouldn't have worried...the swim went great. Didn't get kicked in the face...drafted a few times. Good pace, never felt tired, just cruised in.

Maybe push it a little bit harder, but being my first tri, I didn't want to go to fast and burn out. So, being my first race, I was very satisfied with my swim, except the time, but like I said everyone's times were slow.

Transition was on a rough pavement. So, rough it hurt to walk on it. So, my practicing of running barefoot with my shoes already on the bike didn't pay off at least for this one. Put on my sunglasses, helmet, bike shoes, unracked bike and jogged to mount line.

Nothing.

This course was a lot of fun. I passed a lot of people, however did get passed by quite a few, probably about 15-20 people all with decked out tri-bikes with Zipp wheels and/or discs. Overall I felt really good with my pace. I passed people on the uphills which made me feel good. Started to feel gassed on the last half of the second loop which cost me some time. Also, got stuck behind slower people as I waited for a group of 3 or 4 riders to pass me. Nothing like having to break on flat straight aways to kill your momentum. Anyways, thinking that I hadn't drank that much and wanted to be hydrated on the run, at the end of the bike leg I drank some of the powerade I had with me. See "Run".

Nothing. I just need to keep training! I have only been training for about 4 months and only about 2 months with my new bike with longer rides.

Again with the rough surface, I just dismounted with my bike shoes on and jogged in them back to my rack. Helmet off, bike shoes off, socks on, running shoes on, visor on, racing belt on. For some reason, I put the racing belt on and my visor on while standing there, instead putting them on while running out of transition.

Put visor and belt on while running out of transition.

When reading the race course description, it mentioned the run being on a "packed" trail. Uhhh...No. It was on a not-so-packed trail. Loose dirt and beach sand. To start the run, my stomoach was sloshing around from the powerade I drank before I dismounted on the bike. Legs felt tired, but I just kept telling myself, they will feel better as we go on. Well, little did I know the course was going to be 75% on this soft dirt/sand. It was BRUTAL. I train on hard pavement and was not prepared for this. I had to walk twice for about a minute or 2 each time. I felt the strongest on the last 3/4 mile when it went back to pavement except for about a 50 yard section where it went back onto the beach sand. Finished strong, but was disappointed in my time. I was hoping to break 1:10. I initially blamed it on the run, but now that I see the splits, it was mainly due to the swim and partially on the bike. The run wasn't bad at all at 24:49. I beat my stand alone 5K run that I did back in February by :32. If I didn;t have to walk or put up with the soft sand, I think I could have put together a sub-24:00 5K which would have been really good (for me).

Try to run the course beforehand to get acclimated. I had no idea what I was in store for so couldn't prepare myself.

Drank A LOT of water. IT WAS HOT! Ate some pizza.


Fitness level.


The volunteers were not real educated as far as course layout. I asked 2 different volunteers that were right by transition which direction the bike and run would be, Neither knew. I just decided to follow the crowd since I knew I would not be leading the pack:) The run, because of how hot it was, should have had more than 2 drink stations which seemed. Three would have been nice. I don't think I will do this race next year. The soft sand just is not fun to run in.