Autumn Colors Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Where to start? First off I couldn't breathe through my nose because it was so stuffed from being allergic to the cats that I had a miserable time getting into a rhythm and swallowed a ton of water which I puked up with about 400 meters to go, so that felt great. I finally got a decent rhythm down after the turn and then I had this dude who would come up inside of me and make us both veer off course, then would stop so that I had to go around him and get back on course and then he would catch me again and do it all over again. Guess that's what I get for being a poor swimmer. Furthermore, I hadn't swam much in the last month due to being out of town for work and actually had only swam once in the last two weeks before the race. Before the race started I set my goal at 22-24 minutes, so I came in under a few seconds. Obviously I will be spending a lot of time in the pool for next season as swimming is my weakest event.

Pretty much everything.

My wetsuit got stuck on my timing chip strap and I was mildly lightheaded and my arms were weak so I had to wrestle it for a minute before I could get it off. Getting on the bike went very well though.

Get my wetsuit off more efficiently.

Had a good bike split for me. Only 1 guy averaged over 21 mph and I should mention that he was also the only guy that passed me, on the first lap!!! He won the overall race by over 8 minutes I think. My water bottle fell off my bike within the first two miles so that was rough not having any water. The worst part was that it was just laying in the middle of the road and I passed it 5 times, but the course was so narrow and twisting that I didn't want to get off and grab it. With about a mile left my spare tube came off and wrapped itself around my rear brake while I was on a hill. I had to get off, untangle it, the get going and clipped back in on an uphill, fun! Overall, not bad though. Stayed comfortable while still pushing as I wanted to stay strong for the hilly trail run.

Not be an idiot.

Stopped in transition to have a drink, otherwise would have been faster here.

Not need to get water.

I had the mother of all cramps during the first 3 or so miles. I actually stopped to walk 3 times and the worst part was that other than the cramp I felt great and knew I could have pushed it pretty hard, but the jostling from running just sent excruciating pain through my stomach. I had to walk the steeper downhills because of it. However, the cramp went away with about 2.5 miles to go so I started booking it. I actually didn't get passed during my walk breaks and passed a lot of people once I started running so that was encouraging. Running is my strength though and this is not a good time for me. I should also mention that I started running again 2 weeks before the race after taking 4 weeks totally off from running after a very painful calf strain. The recovery time was perfect though as my calf was pain free and I still had enough time to get a little speed back as I had a pretty good base going into my layoff.

Not get the worst cramp ever.

None. Wanted to get going on the long drive home so we left because I also figured I hadn't done well enough to place in my age group. Definitely would have stayed if I'd known I'd won it. Overall I did enjoy myself though especially since I wasn't expecting too much from myself during this race. The course was challenging yet very fun.


I usually eat very meticulously and I didn't eat anything out of the ordinary leading up the race so I don't think that explains the cramps. I was pretty much out of it the rest of the day and actually continued to feel pretty wretched the next day and ended up not going into work. I suppose I caught a bug. Also learned not to hang around animals you're allergic to before races. This was my 3rd ever tri (the previous one, my second ever, Escape to Crystal Lake, I didn't do the run b/c of the aforementioned calf injury) and I learned a lot and am looking forward to learning from my (many) mistakes and having a fun season next year, starting with HIM Florida!


Didn't stick around, but they had a BBQ. Well organized and fun race except for when we were standing around afterwards the wind blew the bike/run out chute over and it came within inches of landing on a dude and probably doing some serious damage.