Catfish Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon

First real open water swim with a group, first triathlon in the over 5 years (I did one before). Water was so murky you couldn't see your hand in front of you. Drafting was impossible because you couldn't tell if someone was in front of you until you grabbed them. Breathing was fine. Had trouble siting to the point I slowed down to breast stroke once or twice. Current was strong which artificially accelerated the swim times and kept the group much closer than it may have been otherwise. Stayed calm and relaxed.

Start a little further back on the shore line and try to go around the group. Spent a lot of time and frustration running into the back of people much slower. I need to work on siting a little better.

The transition felt fast. Coming out of the water I thought I was at the corner of the ramp and I went to push off and fell. Got back up and took off. I was happy with the speed, 17th overall. Rolled my socks which made a world of difference. Helmet was knocked off my bike which irritated me a bit.

Not much. Maybe run a little faster, learn to go without the socks?

Struggled getting my feet into the clips after transition. Afterwards I was able to go out strong and felt good. I passed more people than I was passed by on the way out. Went out the first half around 23.5-24 mph. Started to hit the wall a bit coming back on what I felt should have been a slightly easier return. Was hurting towards the end around 19mph. I don't have aero bars or a tri bike, so my arms were pretty sore as I was coming towards the end. I could have pushed harder, but new to the bike and still learning the whole thing. With being new comes being off balanced so was able to drink a bit, but not much because of balance. Happy with my overall performance considering the prep.

Practice everything. I have to practice technique, practice getting into the clips, etc. I know most of it will come with time, so we'll see how it goes. I had less than 250 miles on a bike in the last 4 years coming into this race. (95% of that in the previous two weeks)

I almost fell coming into the transition into the mat. Was going to fast and was trying to hop off all at once. Got excited and hit the front brakes too hard. Back tire popped way up and I was able to catch myself. Could have been a disaster. I would have loved to see it. Bike shoes off quick and running shoes right on.

Work on my dismount

I felt good on the run. The transition was a little rough, but I was able to move. A little fast going out -- about 5:40 for my first mile. Was able to cruise along and picked off at least 20 people on the run (mix of tri and duo people). Found it tough to push harder and was more in auto-pilot. I felt good overall. Passed my last person and the next person was over a minute ahead and nobody behind me, so found myself cruising into the finish.

Work a little harder on my 2nd half of the race

Stretched, drank water


Training -- . I decided to do this race on July 1st. So I began running, biking and swimming all at once (4 year break from running and biking, 6 months from swimming). I could feel the breakdown on the biking because of my lack of base. I had been biking about 15 miles a day for 8 days. Running and swimming were the same.

I decided I would use this benchmark for a starting point and see where it could go with some training. Looking forward to some good workouts over the next month+ before my next race. Will stick with the sprint distance for this year.

I felt that I had a fair amount left, but will just need to figure out where to use it and how to get it out. Post race picture shows it. With some proper training, I feel that a drop of 6-8 minutes is not out of the question. Excited to watch the progress.