TriGirl Super Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonMini Sprint

Honestly, I didn’t feel that anxious about the swim at all. I thought being in the 1st wave would freak me out. But, the course looked short from the shore, and I knew that I could do 200 with no problem. I just told myself to stay calm. I wasn’t in the back of the pack like I had planned, but since 80% of people in this race were 1st timers, I figured I was okay. That ended up being a good decision. As soon as they would let us wade in, I went in to get acclimated to the water.

When they blew the horn, I managed to freestyle to about the 1st buoy. Even though I didn’t feel anxious, I was breathing like a mad woman! I had to do some sidestroke to get my breathing back to a somewhat normal rhythm. It never got there, but it did get better. However, every time I attempted to freestyle again, I got winded so I ended up doing a lot of the remainder of the swim using the trusty ol’ sidestroke. I even passed a few people while doing it! When I started heading to shore, I stole a look back and realized I was no where near being the last one in from my wave! Hooray! The swim was over before I knew it!

Just keep training hard on the swim. It's my weakest event, so it's going to require lots of training time in order to improve. Oh, and don't forget pre-race food.

This is were I am annoyed with myself…my T1 time was 2:26! Seriously, what in the hell was I doing for almost 2 ½ minutes??? I know what I was doing – I was getting pebbles off my feet, lol. That, and since I’m not coordinated enough to drink while I’m riding my bike, I took a second to take a Gu and a drink from my water bottle. So anyway - I ran it in, but was surprised how wobbly I felt after the swim. Not bad, but a little unexpected. I heard my friend yell out “great job” or something like that in the transition area. It was a bit of a blur though. I tried to get as many pebbles off my feet as possible, rolled on my socks and slipped on my shoes. I grabbed my Gu and water. That’s when I started noticing people around me coming in from the swim and I thought, “Crap, hurry your butt up!” Then put on my sunglasses and grabbed my helmet and unracked my bike. I remember thinking, “STOP! Put on your helmet!”, so I did just that. I ran to the red line, mounted my bike and was off.

Bring extra towel for mud and pebbles. Learn to drink and ride at the same time, so I don't have to waste time doing it in T1...that could be important for longer distances too.

Fortunately, I remembered to shift gears before setting up transition, so that it wouldn’t be hard to pedal in the beginning. My breathing was really hard for the 1st couple of miles on the bike and I don’t think I got it under control until I was well into mile 2. I checked the nifty bike computer (my Mother’s Day gift!) and was at a 17 mph pace. That’s the fastest I’ve ever gone in a training ride, so it was my goal pace for the race. However, I found myself getting closer to the people in front of me and wanted to pass! My 17 increased to 18. Sometimes it was 19, but my problem is that I turn really slow and really wide…that certainly didn’t help me on the ride. I really enjoy the bike, so my goal was to just enjoy this. At some point, there was a nice downhill and when I looked at my bike computer it read 24 mph. That was fun! At first I was worried that I couldn’t hold the 18-something mph pace, until I reminded myself that it was only 8 miles. And, I reminded myself that it was a race – no regrets, so I said screw it! I know I am not a super fast runner, so what the hell? I gave it everything I could. I do think I slowed down a little too early getting into transition - another thing to work on.

More training rides - farther distances, intervals to work on speed? Learn to mount and dismount faster.

Since I don’t have bike shoes yet or clipless pedals, this was cake for me. Run bike to rack, rack bike, remove helmet, put on race number and go! Oh, and that PB&J from earlier? I ran over it with my bike, lol! A guy standing near the transition area, said “Umm, I guess you didn’t want that sandwich?”

Other than dismount faster, nothing!

I started my Garmin as I was finishing the bike, but realized that it still hadn’t found the satellites yet. Ugh! I was about ½ way through the 1st mile when it finally started working. WTH? My goal was a 10:30 pace. For me that’s pretty good, even for a short 2-mile distance. After my Garmin kicked in, it read a 10:17 average pace, so I thought “okay, let’s keep it there”. It was an out and back course and was happy to reach the water station - hooray, I was ½ way done! I did walk as I drank one Gatorade and poured a cup of water on my head. I ran the rest of the way in and was happy to be done! It was great to see friends at the finish. And, I was actually surprised to see my overall pace at 9:50! For me, that's pretty darn good.

Nothing. I do want to continue speedwork. There's no reason why I can continue to increase my speed on these shorter distances.

The race definitely exceeded my expectations and I even performed much better than I expected. And, TriGirl is a great 1st race to do! First of all, it’s an all women race. Second, they give great swag – a cute, pink technical shirt, pink bag, and pink pen. Third, the race is very well organized – lots of volunteers there to help a girl out. The post race party wasn’t anything extravagant – breakfast burritos, sodas, ice cream, but it pretty much meets everyone’s needs. Overall, a HUGE thumbs up to TriGirl.