Webster Lake Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Whoah-this was a bit a rough swim. My first booboo and big, big newbie mistake. I thought the blue caps in our registration packet were just a gift, so I proceeded to put on my black silicone cap and then realized the blue caps were specifically for my wave! I was the oly black cap wearing lady out there. Duh! The latex cap might have stayed on better-but I haven't used a latex cap in years!

I stood at the front of the pack in my wave and when we got our go, I swam out-kind of hard and can say I was leading for a good 30 seconds-hehe...then I sort of slowed down A LOT and lost it a bit-got around the first buoy and started swimming across but didn't see the next buoy very well. My cap came off and I had to stop to stuff it in my wetsuit and readjust my goggles. Turned out that I was swimming away from the next big buoy and towards another smaller one that came after it and a woman in a kayak had to redirect me-so I had a bit of a swim out and then swim back. My arms got really heavy with the wetsuit. I got up to some of the guys in the earlier wave but plenty of the women in my wave got by me. Also I tried to swim quite a ways in the shallow water before getting up and running.

I'd secure my cap and goggles better. I need to tie an appropriate low ponytail/bun so that I don't have to mess with it through the whole tri and especially so it will fit well in my cap and not push my cap off. And yes, wear the right cap

It was a pretty long run from the lake to the transition area. I tried to keep up a jog and zipped down my suit. When I got to my transition area I was glad to see I'd set up well. Using the bottle of water to rinse my feet worked out well. I did forget my biking gloves but that didn't seem to affect my bike too much. I was a bit slow clipping into my bike and definitely could have tightened up that transition more. Am not sure if I will get to shoes already clipped into my bike and ride out with my feet on top of the shoes-hopefully at some point-but definitely not at the skill level yet.

Again, had I tied my hair better and lower-I wouldn't have had any helmet issues-I was adjusting it a bit on the bike. Remember my gloves. Work quicker in the transition. Clip in better ride a ways before clipping in even.

Wow, I was so not expecting this bike. I remembered reading from other threads that there was a rather steep hill on the course but man-there were MEGA steep hills on the course and I'd barely even done much climbing on my road bike. I had to get off my bike on one hill and fell off my bike on another hill. I was hurting on the hills. I was also getting pissed when I'd see someone on a mountain bike go past me. I just remembered my boyfriend and his nagging that I could just get a much cheaper bike and use a mountain bike. But I insisted I would do it all out and use the best equipment. The hills were hard especially when there were not always big downhills directly after them. I was flailing at some points. I mean after one of the downhills I saw just over 30 mph and on some flats got myself in the 22+ mph range but at other points was ultra slow at 14 mph or so. I was sort of all over the place. I wasn't the best with my waterbottles either. I might have drank more. I've yet to put aerobars on my bike-but I really saw some bikers moving-biking on their aerobars and I especially loved those waterbottles with the ultra long straw that fits between your aerobars.

Definitely try to familiarize myself with the bike course more and really give myself the energy to climb well, not flail, and keep steadier speeds. This bike could have been much faster. I'm not usually one to have to get off my bike on a hill, but I was really taken but some of these. And aerobars-may have to be a must.

I was still really stunned from the bike and the crazy hills-rolled in and was pretty upset when I found that someone had put their bike in my spot on the transition bar-where they obviously hadn't started-I pushed that bike aside...took off my helmet switches shoes-and the elastic laces definitely helped here- took in some gatorade, put on my hat and got going on the run. I forgot my racebelt and number! Duh! I was quite energyless on this run. I had some of the hammergel in the back pocket of my trisuit and I really should have had some-but I was worried as to what it might do to me not having ever had it before. I doubt it could have hurt though.

Take an energy gel or bite of a bar and really get going on the run.

I walked quite a bit and normally I can't really keep a very slow jogging pace-my body usually wants to pump harder and faster but I was definitely able to here. Too slow really. I did get enough water given the waterstations-but I was moving pretty slow.

Try quite hard not to walk. I think a fuel belt may help me and then I will not feel the need to stop at waterstations which sort of always give me the excuse to slow down and walk while I drink. Then I'll have another thing to remember to put on but suppose I could use it as my race belt.

Not much of a warm down. I walked from the finish line over to the transition area and just started taking down my stuff. I probably should have stretched more.


Energy level and mindset a little. Training! Not enough training. Throughout the whole tri I kept saying I don't think I took this serious enough and I definitely don't think I took my training serious enough. But all in all good try for my first tri!

No massage but I REALLY wanted one. I have a massage therapist and they recommend I come a few days before as well for stretching and a bit of massage.


FIRST TRIATHLON EVER! Great-guess not by ranking standards, but definitely a serious finish and proud of my first one! I was completely wiped after this one but also was completely motivated to take on more. I look very much forward to watching my performance improve!

And I have to say I was pretty worried about the rain and the rain stopped me from doing Hyannis I two weeks earlier. But luckily the rain was not super heavy during the race. It was no issue during the swim of course. The bike was slick but not too dangerous-and the rain definitely kept me cool. Same for the run-I was never really hot as a result of the wet/cooler but warm enough weather. So while I did envision doing my first tri on an ultra sunny and perfect day. The rainy day worked out quite well for this first one.