TriAmerica St. Paul - TriathlonSprint

NO WAY this was a 750m course. I know I swam it faster than 3min/100m. I usually swim about 2:15 100s and that's without a wetsuit. The top male swam it at a pace of 1:40/100 according to the results. I have to think the #1 guy would swim it faster than that. Anyhow, the start was a little slow and I felt like I was passing a lot of people. After only a few minutes the pack spread out and I had lots of space. The last 200m were getting hard and I came out of the water very winded. I even got a little side stitch as I was running up the beach.

Train more! Get some swim coaching.

Long run from the beach to the T. Once there, I had to hurdle a guy who was sitting right by my stuff and then struggled my way out of the wetsuit. Felt like the rest went on OK. No speed records but didn't struggle with any equip.

Practice wetsuit removal. Practice running with bike shoes on (mine aren't tri specific and, I think, would be hard to slip on while attached to the pedals with the bike moving!

Didn't get my breathing under control until quite a ways into the course though I didn't feel like it was effecting my performance. I took a hammer gel about 10 minutes in - I really needed it! One annoyance was a guy who kept hanging on me for about 2/3 of the bike. He came up on me at the big hill (on his fancy Kestrel with HED wheels, no less) and was to my left the entire climb and for a ways at the top. I finally got pissed and dropped him. He came back up on me 2 more times before the turnaround but would never pass me. So I dropped him again, twice! In the turnaround, he just about crashed into me and wasn't giving me or anyone else any room. He was hanging on my left rear AGAIN so I dropped him, AGAIN! I didn't see him until almost the end when he finally passed me for good. Don't know if he was saving himself for the end or what...

All in all, it was a pretty good ride. I would have expected that my time and MPH pace fell where they did.

Say something to the guy who was constantly on me. Something like "drafting is illegal"?

Get a new bike. It was demoralizing to see all these nice light bikes go flying by my big 'ol steel MTB. I know that you need a good motor to power the bike but I sure am not taking advantage of the technology available!

I wasn't able to get out of shoes like I planned. I guess the finish came up more quickly than I'd expected as it must've for others - a woman almost crashed into me in the dismount. The racks were an absolute mess! I was on the end and the guy next to me had racked his MTB backwards and had the big, wide bull bars on the rack. Plus, there was a guy in the same area as me and was not being very good about sharing space so I could get my bike in. Once I got it racked, I switched shoes, put on hat and race belt and took down a hammer gel and ran off.

Knock other guy's bike off rack? I don't know how I could've improved that part. Next time I'll take the hammer gel with me. I need water with it but didn't realize there was an aid station right at the start. That probably wasted at least 30 seconds...

I felt like my wind was good but I had NO legs whatsoever. I knew that the run was going to be my biggest challenge so I acheived my goal of not walking (except for aid stations - I can't run and drink from a cup at the same time!). There were a few hills on the course and I kept thinking, who the heck puts hills on the run?!?! I met up with fellow BTer Autumn on the course. We chatted for a bit and then she was off runnung fast like so many others on the course! It sure was cool having a bunch of family and friends at the finish line.

Log more miles! I need to become a runner, not a jogger.

Hugs from friends and family and a little post race food and water. I should've stretched.


#1 - Training. I'll be far better off next time as I'll have given myself more time to train.
#2 - Technology. Need to ditch the mountain bike.


Not sure why but the race started almost 30 minutes late. Otherwise, it seemed well organized. I wish there would've been more bike marshals to help deal with the guy I couldn't shake. A friend also complained about people riding 3 abreast on the course because they were "racing together".

All in all, great for MY FIRST TRI! I achieved all three goals which were: 1) Finish, 2) No slack strokes on the swim, no coasting on the bike, no walking on the run, and 3) finish in under two hours.