Webster Lake Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Upon a lot of reflection, I've realized that my problem with the swim was that I failed to take into account the direction of the waves. The wind was coming from the left, so every time I sighted I found myself much farther to the right than I expected. I ended up sighting just about every other stroke, so it was hard to get into a rhythm. It was quite choppy between the first and second buoy because the wind kicked up, but after I rounded the second buoy I seemed to do a bit better going straight into the beach.

When our wave was waiting to begin this guy next to me pointed out a swimmer who was already out there and said, "That guy's swimming to Connecticut." I laughed and said that would be me, and sure enough, it just about was! At one point I popped up and asked the lifeguard, "Where am I supposed to be going?" She asked if I needed help, and I said no, I just needed to swim in a straight line!

Other than the navigation issue, I felt quite comfortable and was even able to bilateral breathe on occasion. I think I even could have pushed harder, but given that it was my first race, I kind of wanted to save myself a bit.

Wasn't able to really draft off of anyone because I was pretty much by myself off-course! I was surprised that I ended up 10th in my age group in the swim split. It would have been even better if I had navigated properly.

Note the direction of the waves/current. Be a bit more aggressive heading into the water (don't just stroll.) Push a bit harder aerobically.

T1: 70/188.

Overall a pretty good transition. It was a long run from the water so I set my elf shoes aside so I could slip them on. I was able to take off my wetsuit down to my waist, along with my cap and goggles while I was running. I had a bit of difficulty getting the wetsuit off, but it was totally worth having it!

I thought I was going to use knee warmers and my jacket on the bike before the race began, but I was so pumped up and warm that I didn't even think twice about leaving them behind. That was a good call, because I would have surely overheated if I had them.

Additional practice taking off my wetsuit. Run a bit harder from the beach to the transition area.

Great bike ride! When I got on the bike I was already in the mid 160's for my HR, so I spent the first few miles trying to go quickly while bringing my HR down a bit before I hit the hill. I also used that opportunity to suck down a Gu.

The hill went very well - it wasn't bad compared to the training hills around here. It had a few flat spots (similar to the back side of Old Mountain Road) so that you could recover a bit. There was a girl ("38") who passed me initially, but I kept her in sight and when we hit the hill that was it. She was in too big of a gear and couldn't downshift. She passed me again towards the end of the bike course (darn it - she was built like a sprinter), but it was fun to have someone to keep track of.

Anyway, I passed a lot of people on the bike, stayed in the big chain ring, used the aero bars as much as I could (hit 31 mph after rounding the corner at the bottom of the hill!), and felt really happy with the bike. Now that I'm familiar with the hill, I think it should be even better next year!

Drank part of one bottle with Powerade in it.

Nothing really. Now that I'm familiar with the hill, I should be a bit faster next year. Also, I think I want to get a bottle set-up for my aero bars so I don't have to reach down to grab it.

T2: 173/188!!

My T2 time was horrible - almost the worst among all women. I've spent a lot of time thinking about it to see how I can improve. What I did: brain freeze racking the bike; took off shoes, gloves, helmet; put on socks and running shoes (had to sit down for this); put on visor and race belt; put on Garmin. I may have had a bit of water, but I can't remember.


Re-rack my bike a few times before the race; no gloves - put bar tape on my aero bars instead; no socks with the running shoes (now that I'm used to the lasts on these new shoes, I don't need them); work on slipping the running shoes on w/o fine-tuning the laces; run as I put on my visor and race belt; someday get tri shoes so I can do a flying dismount

What can I say, I'm just not a runner yet. I had no problem with cement legs even though I pushed so hard on the bike. Guess all of those biking miles in them have made them strong as hell. I was passed by a lot of people, but I just ran the best I could, and actually ran faster than I have to date. Next year will be better. I was passed by a woman in my age group who was built like a runner, and I tried to catch her, but couldn't do it.

Not much I could do differently. Next year when I have more running miles in my legs, it should be better.

Turn off my pace alert so the Garmin doesn't keep beeping at me to slow down!

Not much - started sprinkling so changed into post-race clothes and stretched when I got home.


Note: Overall ranking is for women only.

Navigation on the swim. SLOW T2 time. Not being a runner yet.


Overall, this was a well-run race (according to Jeff, who has done a lot of them.) I will definitely do it again next year.

As for my performance, I am really happy with placing 8th in my AG given that it was my first race. I had set a goal of finishing in 1:30 or better, and I beat that by over 5 minutes! I thought at first that I had missed it because the clock said 1:31 when I finished, but I had forgotten about the wave start so I was thrilled when I saw my actual time. I was also REALLY happy with the bike. To finish 22nd out of 177 women overall is GREAT, and I couldn't be happier.