TRI for FUN Triathlon #1 - TriathlonSprint

I started wide and tried to stay there. My wave had about 115 swimmers starting together and the middle of that was mayhem. Even trying to skirt the edges I was run into several times. I still can't seem to get into a good rhythm during a race. I swim for maybe a dozen strokes and then sight. That messes up my rhythm and it takes a bit to get it back. Then I repeat the process again and again. My goggles did leak a bit during the swim but it wasn't too bad, I'd roll onto my side or back every so often to drain the water out. Halfway through the race I felt pretty wasted. My breathing was off and I actually thought to myself "there's no way I'm doing the Olympic in July". I checked behind me and saw that I was near the middle of my wave, that gave me a bit of a mental boost. Not long after that I started passing guys from the wave before mine. Another mental boost. I didn't feel great about the swim as I finished, but looking back at it I am very happy with my time.

Try to be a bit more aggressive and swim in the pack a bit more to make the route shorter than swimming the outside line.

I got out of the water with 4 or 5 others. I walked a few steps while trying to locate the zipper pull (it was up over my left shoulder for some reason). Once I had the suit unzipped I ran up the hill to transition. I passed quite a few guys who were walking all the way up.
Suit off, glasses on, helmet on, socks on, shoes on, sucked down half a vanilla bean Gu gel, and sprayed on some sunscreen. It all seemed to go very smoothly. I stood there staring down at my transition spot thinking "what did I forget" for a couple seconds, then grabbed the bike and off I went.

Practice transition a couple more times to get the time down a little more, but overall it was a good T1.

I had hoped to average 16 mph overall pace for the race. I started well and the first time I checked my speed I was up over 20 mph. The start is pretty flat or slightly downhill, then in goes downhill steady for the first 2 miles. I was passing a few guys and a couple of guys on really nice tri bikes went by me. One guy I passed was on a Scott road bike similar to mine, but his is black and yellow and he had clip on aero bars. There are a couple of turns/corners during the first 2 miles and those are a blast when hammering along at race speed with other riders nearby. The course flattens out for a mile or so and the guy on the Scott bike I passed earlier went by me while down in the aero position. At 3.5 the course starts uphill for a couple of miles. I tried to stay 3 bike lengths back from the guy on the Scott but it turned out he wasn't a quite as strong on the climbs as I was. I passed him again at about mile 5 and steadily pulled away. A little past mile 6 it starts back downhill and then flattens out a bit more for the last half mile to the turnaround. At about mile 7 the first of the gals passed me. I figure I was at about 20 mph when she went by. She was flying. The turnaround is basically on a flat stretch and there was a Highway Patrol officer holding auto traffic back for us while we turned around. There was a little headwind on the return trip, but I tried to keep my cadence at around 90 and I felt like I was doing well. At 12 miles I was still above 17 mph average! The climb back towards the park and the headwind made it tough to keep the speed up. I rolled up to the dismount line, jumped off, and ran past a couple of guys who were trying to dismount.

The bike was great. Just need more training.

Found my transition spot easily and racked the bike quick. Helmet off and hat on, then swapped bike shoes for run shoes. I put on my heart rate strap and Global Trainer watch during this transition. Nice smooth transition into run gear and I was off and running while clipping on my race number belt.


Spray on more sunblock for my shoulders.

I started out too fast. I came out of transition doing a 7:30 pace. My heart rate went up and I had to back it down to keep it under control. I had expected to be in the 9:30 to 10:00 per mile range and that is where I ended up. I felt very flat, not much energy during the run. I walked one of the steeper hills on the way out and I did walk the aid station at the 1 mile mark to drink some Gatorade. I was conscious of my slower pace and it was frustrating that I couldn't go faster. I did think about forcing myself to go faster, but I was honestly afraid of bonking because my energy felt so low.

Because of a knee issue I had for all of May my run fitness is way off right now. I had figured on something near 10 min per mile pace, so the results of this race are about as good as I could reasonably hope for. Hopefully no injuries before the next race.
Maybe a Gu partway through the bike would have helped with the low energy feeling. Maybe I just went too hard on the bike.

Walked around and grabbed some water then back over to transition to cheer on my wife as she came in off the bike and out onto the run course. Then back to the food area for some fruit and cookies.


The lack of run training due to injury was big. I need to focus more on bike training to bring my average speed up without using everything up and killing my run.


This is not a chipped event so my times for each segment are based on wearing a stopwatch, bike computer, and GPS watch. Final time is based on official clock time. This is a great event and I plan to do a couple of more Tris here this season.