Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Wow, that was much worse than I expected to do. I'm a former competitive swimmer.

The water temp, crowding and agitation wasn't bad and the wet-suit was a good temperature, BUT I had only swum in the wet suit once and that was indoors. MISTAKE!
I looked around after the first 100 or so, with my stroke and breathing feeling pretty darn good, and I was in 3rd place in our wave; which surprised me as I wasn't pushing. Almost immediately on lifting my head, I began to struggle to breathe (without signs of panic, go figure). Basically the wet-suit felt very constricting around the base of my neck and my chest. (Kinda like when you're breathing underwater with a snorkle).
Breaststroke didn't work so well in the wet-suit (feet pop out of the water and the stretching of the neck was still a problem) and treading water didn't help, so I settled on elementary back and back crawl through most of the first 2/3. After rounding the last buoy for home, I did crawl most of the way in. A weird and unsettling.

How many times have y'all advised NOT TO TRY ANYTHING NEW ON RACE DAY?!?!

I need more practice swimming in the wet-suit.

For Brezzy point, I won't wear a wet-suit if at all possible.

(see below)

Also, I was pretty fried and distraught from my swim experience. I should have hurried more, but I was trying to compose myself.

stick with cleated cycling shoes

Here we go with MISTAKE NUMBER 2 ...How many times have y'all advised NOT TO TRY ANYTHING NEW ON RACE DAY?!?!

I fell in love with the idea of "Pyro Platforms" which I mounted on my SPD pedals last night and thought I had tested out. They're supposed to allow one to cycle in running shoes (even though I've always used SPD cycle shoes for Centuries or even about town riding)

I crossed the timing mat, mounted my bike and tried to slip in to the Pyro, but I had forgotten to loosen the velcro. Wobbled a bunch. Had to stop. Then I tried again ... and the darn things popped out of the pedals, not once, not twice, but 3 times. I finally just stopped and velcroed (is that a verb?) them to my seat post for the duration and rode on SPD pedals with freakin' running shoes.

Time to go the first 75 yards = probably 5 minutes.

Time lost cycling in running shoes without pedals = probably 5-10 minutes on the bike and some leg strength for the run.

stick with cleated cycling shoes and ride like I know how

Hey, I was already IN my running shoes. :)

mostly walked the uphills and concentrated on stretching out my stride -- jogged the flats and downhills

It my worst and least favorite component and I avoided training outdoors. I don't think the treadmill is any sort of good substitute.

Need to build up to run the whole thing.

Chatted with my neighbors and compared notes. Ate 1 & 1/2 cliff bars. Waited for my daughter to accept her trophy (3rd place in 20-24 in her FIRST Tri)


I suspect there are 2-3 minutes lying around in the swim by doing freestyle correctly the whole way. T1 would have then been maybe a minute faster if I weren't out of breath and out of sorts. The bike would have been 12 minutes faster without the Pyro melt-down. The run could have been 1-2 minutes better too, but mostly it won't improve until I commit to it.


Folks were great -- organizers, national guard, volunteers, spectators & fellow competitors.

The course was very nice.

I just wanted to finish this race and I did. Gained some knowledge too.