In Training Spring Pool Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was not overly pleased with my swim today. My workout swims the past couple of weeks have had me at about 2:00/100 -- today only was able to hold about 2:14. Several things contributed to this issue.

1. - Water temperature was much too warm. Almost everyone I talked to did about 30 seconds slower on the swim than they wanted to.

2. - Breathing. I didn't control my breathing well. I had planned to bilateral the entire race -- only made it about 100 yards before that went out the door! I think that was also impacted by water temp.

3.- TURNS --- They absolutely stunk today, espcially the lane changes. Didn't get myself deep enough going under the ropes and kinda hung up in them a couple times. Also, was passing someone around a turn and that messed me up a little bit.

4.- Didn't stretch out my stroke as well today as I have in the past several workouts, which impacted my pace.

All said though, I was faster than at the Icebreaker, so I shouldn't complain too loudly. It's just that I had really hoped to break 5 minutes on the swim today and didn't. I worked hard in the swim, but because I didn't breath well, my stroke lost efficiency. I also lost a lot of time on the turns today.

Plan my turn better. Be more aware of my position in relation to the other swimmers in the lane I'm in. Be more agressive in passing. I did pass at least one swimmer, so that's exciting, given we were in Time Trial starts spaced 15 seconds apart.

Focus HARD on breathing bilaterally throughout the swim. My stroke is much more efficient when I do that

While my swim was my worst performance today, I did learn some things.

Had laid everything out well, so not an issue there. Decided to take runningfoo's advice and bag the gloves which saved a couple of seconds. Had some problems getting my bike shoes on. Had them opened up well, but they just didn't want to go onto my feet. Also had a small problem getting my helmet fastened. Didn't mount the bike very well coming out ot the transition.

Learn how to put my shoes on with them on my bike. Don't fight the helmet. Remember to start Garmin when crossing time mat so I have good data for my records (didn't remember to start it until I was about a minute or so into the bike -- URGH)

I also need to practice mounting more quickly. I'm REALLY slow at that

Overall, I was quite pleased with the ride. Kept my cadence pretty consistent throughout, and to my recollection was only passed about twice, but I passed MANY other racers which was VERY exciting for me.

Worked hard on keeping my cadence good by working a lot with my gearing. Only one section did I not manage that well, and consequently that may have cost me about .2-.3 MPH on the overall pace. I would have really liked to have had an average pace of 20 MPH plus, but I guess I was pretty close at 19.8 MPH average pace. Needed to not slow down as early as I did on the turn arounds, which also cost me some time.

Be more agressive on the turn arounds so as to keep pace up better. Work on getting myself on to my drop bars (since I don't have aero's) to improve my aerodynamics.

Work on mounting and dismounting with shoes clipped in. That could save me 30 secs to a minute in transition.

This transition was pretty good except for dismounting the bike. Haven't mastered doing that while rolling well. It's clip out, stop, get off, and then try to run, in bike shoes to my racking spot.

Shoe change wasn't too bad, except I forgot to go to the store and get some Yankz, which would have save 15-30 seconds on this transition.

GET YANKZ, Learn to take shoes off while approaching transition zone.

My pace was not quite as fast as I'd hoped, even though it was a PR for me. In looking at the results of others in my age group, to become really competitive in my group, and get into the hardware dept, I need to increase my running speed by about 10-30 seconds per mile. That's a tall order, but given my improvements over 3 mile distances in the past several months, it's doable.

BEST and WORST part of this run--- Only got passed once that I remember, but the dude that passed me was in my Age Group! URGH. I did pass a lot of people.


Also, take more care in what I drink along the course. At the first water stop at mile 1, I took a glass of Elite (gatorade). I haven't taken that product before. It tasted fine, but I tried to drink it too fast and choked myself, in the process gagging myself and almost having to stop a couple times over the next couple tenths to puke. Fortunately I didn't puke, but I came close, and it slowed me down some for a short time.

My pace overall was quite consistent. According to my Garmin, my pace stayed within a 5 second per mile range which was great. I just need to not be afraid to push a little bit harder.

Drink the replenishment drink before the race, so I'm familiar with it's taste. Don't be afraid to push a little harder in the home stretch.

Walked it off, made Randy happy by puking a little at the finish line. Took some water, some grapes, and a bagel as post race nurishment.

This was a great race for me today! I'm VERY pleased with my overall performace having improved my time from last months Icebreaker Triathlon by a full 3 minutes! I improved my time in every area of the race. I was SO excited by how little I was passed today, and how many people I was able to pass. I was the 109th person to start, but finished 67th, so given that, I basically passed 42 people during the course of the race. Being that this was a time trial, I didn't physically pass that many, but it shows me that I can be competitive as a triathlete. I think I've finally found a sport that I can do WELL! That's a BIG MOTIVATOR to me. And given that I have come so close to hardware in the past 2 races, I'm even more motivated to train hard and have a shot at getting on the podium.


Choking on replenishment drink. Not planning my turns in the swim better. Having challenges with the mount/dismount in the transitions, difficulties getting my biking shoes on quickly.


Good, well run race, but frustratred by the changes in distances after the race was advertised. This is the second race that they have done this with this year. They're batting a 1000.

I'll do this race again in the future. It's a great season building workup race.