Kinetic Sprint, Race #4 - TriathlonSprint

Being my first Triathlon, I had never done anything like this before.
I was in the third wave to go (increments of 4 minutes). Water was cold, and having never really swam an open water, brown and cold water lake, this was very shocking. No swimming pool rules here! Started running and high kicking into the water, dove in when I slowed down, started to paddle. The crowd I expected lot's of feet and kicking etc. That was fine. I really couldn't get myself to exhale under the cold water, I was very quickly out of breath even though I was out front. Decided to turn over and catch my breath while back stroking while looking back and seeing where the buoys were. Didn't get my rhythm until the first buoy, and then I got into my groove, the cold water just really messed up my breathing though. Couldn't catch my breath or something. Kept zig zagging around, running into the occasional slow swimmer. Realized I needed to breath on my left side only to get going straight, or I'd keep veering off course. Breathing constantly on once side worked best to get my breathing up, and doing any kind of breast stroke really wasn't going to get me anywhere fast. Some Athenas or faster women's group in pink (wave 4 minutes behind us) overtook me after the last buoy. Swam right over me. That was fine, I eventually got to where I could stand and trudged out of the water, completely out of breath. Walked/ jogged to T1.
Backstroking is your friend :P

More Open Water Swimming.
More Open Water Swimming.
More Open Water Swimming.

Have no idea what my T1 time was(will post later), but with a wetsuit and being out of breath, completely light headed, I did my best. Fumbled slightly with the feet of the wetsuit, but whatever, they came off eventually. Had a towel ready, dried feet and head. I didn't have a singlet on, I put a light wicking, red running t-shirt on, socks on, smoothed those socks out cycling shoes slipped on and grabbed my helmet, then bike and jogged off. Had to run up a rocky, dirt path to get to the bike start, and start on a slight hill too. That's not cool.

Nothing.

Gu strapped to bike with electrical tape, Accelerade in water bottle holder, needed to be watered down a bit more, but was helpful. Needed to probably drink a full bottle though, only drank 3/4ths of it.
Came out from the start very quickly, passed many people right away, probably started off too fast, aero position is awesome, caught up to a good pack of people, and passed and was passed by them, back and forth till about mile 10. As soon as I hit those hills, I slowed down considerably. Either couldn't get into the right gear, or I'm just horrible on hills. My shoes were slipping somewhat, couldn't get the right feel. My saddle might be too low I'm thinking? need to get re-measured, again.
Started getting passed left and right on the hills coming back. Once we got off the hill work, it was rolling again, I was keeping up with the crowd again. Lauren passed me around mile 13. I was spent, and Quads were burning.

***ADDENDUM NOTE:
During the Tri on Sunday, my seat post, unbeknownst to me had slid down two inches. Why is that you ask? Well when I was getting bike fitted (Re-adjustment, second fitting) with (STAFF) at Capital Hill bikes, we didn't tighten all of the four screws on my seat post afterwards. I completely forgot that (STAFF) hadn't finished tightening those bottom bolts and like a rookie, didn't do a thorough bike tightening and examining before the race. Yep, that would be why my Quads were on fire like a Malibu mansion.


Hill work, much more hill work. Long rides. I blame the weather in this area,(yeah blame the weather) and not having any cold weather bike clothing for my horrible hill riding. Need an indoor trainer as well.

Oh, and the saddle slipping down 2 inches didn't help my bike.
I would water down my Accelerade a bit more to make it easier to drink on a hot ride. I need to purchase new bike shoes, mine I've found out (hand me down) are a 44 1/2 and I fit a 43.

Barely remember this, I know I got everything off, and took a nice drag from my accelerade bottle I had. Put shoes on, grabbed cap and race belt, jogged to start, kicked my legs a bit to get more blood circulating in them.

Nothing.

We all started in that jog, that out of breath jog that you're all exhausted in. I saw Lauren up ahead of me, I started to overtake her, and then passed her. Found a girl that was running my speed, and we ran together for a while, I passed her. My marathon training came in to play, my quads were on fire, biking really did a number on those. I found some Jelly Belly Sport beans in my race belt, chewed them up, but needed water. Got some water on the half-way point and the energy from the beans kicked in, downhill, I sped up, saw Marc Duncan my friend up ahead in his DC-Tri jersey, and tried to catch up to him. Encouraged everyone around me to kick it up, the end was near, I was running a nice pace by now, circulation getting back, breathing good. Passed a few at the end, sprinting to the finish.
I really should have rocked on this more, I think my run was hurt by my Quad's being on fire, and not having practiced enough Bricks.

More Brick works off of the cycling.

Walked around, drank some Gatorade, went to cheer Lauren coming in behind me.


First Triathlon ever, I did pretty well. My biking practice was limited, and showed on the course at the end. I just didn't have anymore energy left for the hills.


I was pleased with my race for being my first. I performed to my experience and abilities.

Setup Events:
I didn't even know they had Bananas, and oranges until the awards ceremony. No signs, nothing. They had some hot dog and hamburger vendors, that were charging money for the food. The kind lady taking money did give me a free hot dog, so I have to give them that. In some children's swimming pools, there were Gatorade and water bottles. The vehicle traffic was out of control sometimes. My spectator friend told me of a mini-van that ran someone off the road ruining his tire, he gave him a ride back to the start. The ending of the run, was so crooked and curvy, you couldn't sprint at all to the finish. Why did the race start the bike going uphill? Oh well, I guess they did the best with what they had?