Kinetic Sprint, Race #4 - TriathlonSprint

My swim felt extremely sloppy - coming from a swimming background (pool), I am very used to a strong, powerful and SMOOTH stroke - this was none of that. I felt splashy, off-balance, and zig-zaggy. I had a great start - I was first of my wave after about 200 yds, but was passed by what looked like 5-6 other pink-capped swimmers before the end. I couldn't find my rhythm to get me through, and I desperately need to practice open water swimming before the next tri.

Practice open water swimming. And lose the neoprene cap - that chin strap is awful!

Hated the uphill battle out of T1. But I wasn't ever scrambling for any of my things - everything was out and visible and I believe T1 went just about as smoothly as it could have.

More bodyglide - and apparently sunscreen that's rub-proof - the wetsuit rubbed all the SPF 30 (Neutrogena, so it's good stuff) sunscreen off my shoulders and arms, so I got a little red/pink on the bike.

Smooth rolling hills - mostly changing the (small?) gears either 1 or 2... for a couple of the bigger hills (still not too too bad) I changed the big gear... Tried standing on one of the hills rather than changing gears, but the change in muscle use was too much, my legs said "sit!" so I sat. I tried my best to keep the same strong comfortable cadence the whole time - even on downhills (scary!) I wouldn't let myself ever coast, just ramp up the gears and go faster, building speed. I felt good during the bike, although not super-powerful since I hadn't done much of any real training in this (does 3 spin classes at the Y count?) I passed Josh about 3/4 the way through (he says mile 13, so I'll believe him). I didn't feel bad at the end either, my legs felt strong, although I felt some slight muscle burn in my glutes.

Train?

I thought this was also good - very smooth (although it was a blur!) Hang bike up, take helmet off, sit down. Unstrap/take off shoes, put on running shoes, tie. Grab hat, race belt - put those on as I'm jogging out of transition. Then comes the hard part.

Take energy bar, goo, beans, juice, espresso shots or krispy kreme doughnuts - anything to give my body more calories than it had. I'd run out of fuel at this point, although I hadn't realized it yet.

During the run I felt hot (it was hot out) and I reeeeally needed more energy - my muscles just felt drained. They were only handing out water though, no Cytomax (although the race was sponsored by them... oh well). So I kept my jog/run pace almost the whole time - I did walk a couple times for about 20-30 yds each - once right out of T2, once around the turnaround while drinking water, and once about 3/4 of the way through... Just needed it and since it was my first triathlon I wasn't too concerned about my time, I was mostly worried about getting there in one piece, feeling good, and without further injuring my poor foot.

(See T2 comments) I needed more energy/calories than I had. Also need to practice bricks, etc. Run more... have foot heal...

Walked around - felt a little lightheaded and like I'd throw up if I drank any more Accelerade. So I drank Gatorade and water... Got my legs into the lake water to cool off. Walked around more, after I was cooled down I sat. Ate a banana when we finally found them. Felt like I couldn't eat anything, my stomach was not happy. But I felt ok - just really tired.


Lack of calories during the run segment. Also lack of full training program.


Note: "Overall" ranks are just women - they don't post the overall results for both men/women together.