Athens Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon

This was my first triathlon but compared to swim practices, this was by far…TERRIBLE. I started out pacing myself just like practice and I felt pretty smooth. About 75m in, the congestion started. There were people everywhere and passing was near impossible. I think the first half of the swim was freestyle and the second half was breaststroke…partly because of trying to pass and partly because getting out of my rhythm caused my breathing to skyrocket.

I started 3rd from last thinking that my swim would be slow (and it was) but after the first time I passed, I let my breathing go and it all went downhill from there. Next time, I will stick to the game plan and focus on my stroke and breathing and forget about passing/being passed.

T1 went well. There was a bit of a jog from the indoor pool out to the parking lot where transition was situated. The parking lot had a lot of loose gravel, so I took my time and gingerly ran so I wouldn't land my heel directly onto a rock. No wetsuit to remove since it was a pool swim. I did throw on my cycling jacket since it was pretty chilly outside and it was misting rain. This probably slowed me down a bit but kept my core temp up so I think it was worth it for me.

Nothing that I can think of…everything went pretty smoothly.

It took a while getting onto the bike to loosen up and let my breathing get back to somewhere near normal. About a mile out, the road changed from asphalt to chip seal. That was terrible! Rough roads with lots of gravel. At some points, it was almost better to ride on the shoulder of the road since it was smoother and deal with even more gravel. A few people did get flats riding on the shoulder though. There was one fairly large (in my opinion anyway) climb that I had to shift down to the small ring but otherwise kept my cadence up on the big ring.

Try to loosen up prior to getting on the bike. Keep breathing under control in the first place.

After getting off the bike, I was running into transition and racked my bike, looked up and there was my dad cheering me on. I pulled of my cycling jacket and was ready to head off….or so I thought. I got so side tracked with him talking to me and cheering me on, that I left my bike and started running out with my bike shoes on! Took 2 steps and realized I was an idiot, turned back and quickly changed shoes.

Focus on what I am doing and not try taking on the run course in my bike shoes

Since it was fairly chilly (at least to me) and I had a death grip on the aerobars trying not to lose control on the slick roads, I got off the bike and felt like every muscle in my hands, forearms and lower back had tightened up. It took a good mile or so to loose up and feel good on the run. At this point I also realized that I had screwed up my garmin either getting out of the pool or in T1 so I have no idea what my pace in on the run and just went by feel. I probably could have pushed harder on the run as once I loosened up, I felt pretty good, but I was concerned as I had no idea what my pace actually was.

not sure if stretching a bit in T2 before taking off would be better in the long run or just slow me down even more. Don't completely screw up my watch or get used to running without having quick access to my pace. I used to be able to guestimate my pace but that was 20 years ago when I was running a LOT more.

Not much. I walked from the finish line past the bananas, grabbed 2 and a cup of water. Walked over to my bike and met up with my dad. I grabbed my gear bag (I stashed a dry set of clothes in there) and took off to the ladies room to change into some dry clothes. After changing, I went back and packed up my gear and brought it all back to the car. Came back to listen to the awards ceremony and missed out on the pizza…it was all gone before the slowest of us even finished.


I think my breathing during the swim really hampered the first part of the bike course for me. Once I got my breathing back into control, I started feeling pretty good.


Fair race. It was close to home and an early sprint distance. I want to get a few early races under my belt before the longer race I have planned this summer. The bike course was really rough and the post-race festivities were lacking. But the volunteers were FANTASTIC. They were posted everywhere and were awesome.