BRATS Salue to Military Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This was only the second time I'd ever swam 300 yards or more without stopping. (I'd done 400 yards two days before on the 0-to-1650 Plan to prepare for an Olympic distance tri in September.) I never swam laps in my life until two months before this race. I've watched the TI videos, read the book, and taken four private swim lessons. We had to submit an estimated finish time for 300 yards, and I put down 5 minutes when I registered a month before the race, having never swam that far in one swoop. I was surprised to be seeded 17th out of 80 or so swimmers, but was in the right spot as I was not passed and did not need to pass anyone during the race. There were logjams in front of me and behind me, but I was in the clear. The race instructions said a cap was required, so I wore won even though I'd never worn before an ~1/4 of the racers didn't have one. My head felt like a balloon in the water--I had trouble finding my horizontal position.

--Note that the pool was 25m instead of yards, so I wouldn't be surprised when my stroke counts were 1-3 higher than I expected.
--Ditch the swim cap, or at least practice with it--I'd never swam with one before, and I felt like I had a life jacket pulling my head up.

I'd practiced T1 and T2 in my front yard the day before, but not with wet feet. I was a little slow getting my shoes on--the socks went on OK.

Not too much. I don't understand how someone did a 51 second transition, and a bunch of people were 30 seconds faster than me. There was a 100 yard run from the timing mats at the pool in bare feet over gravelly asphalt, so that added to the time.

I was hoping to ride 20 mph. I did some biking as a teenager, but only got back into it a couple months ago after a 18 year gap. (I've been a runner for the last nine years, but swimming and biking are new to me.) I haven't spent enough time on the bike. I did long rides of 35, 60, and 40 to prepare for a century I rode a couple weeks ago in 5:45. My only other rides have been 7 miles o/w bike commuting once or twice a week. I need to do some speed work and get more time on the bike. Aero position was comfortable.

I came across a rider with a flat tire. He didn't have a pump or CO2, so I unclipped my saddle bag while riding and tossed it to him. As it turns out, the CO2 was empty. Oh well, at least I tried to help.

Do speed work. Try to stay in the seat on hills. Ride more.

I got off the bike OK, but had more trouble getting my shoes off and on than expected. With dry socks, I can slip the shoes off without completely undoing all three straps, but that didn't work with damp socks. And I had trouble getting my shoes on despite the Yankz.

Not much.

I was tempted to walk a minute 1/2 mile into the race, but shrugged it off and kept going. I found a groove about a mile into the race. I had water at miles 1.3 and 2.3, but it didn't sit well. I felt a little nauseous toward the end, but felt fine after crossing the finish line.

Nothing.

I walked around for a few minutes and had Gatorade/water/bagel/banana.


Not enough time on the bike. Relatively slow transitions cost me two spots in my AG.


Overall, not bad for my first race. I was surprised to be 3rd out of 11 in my AG and 17th out of 76 overall on the swim because I've never done laps until the last two months. I was disappointed to finish 9th out of 11th on the bike. I thought I'd be relatively stronger on the bike than the swim. The run went well. As expected, the first half mile was unpleasant, but I found a groove and ran a decent 5k.

Overall, I was 6th out of 11 in my AG. I lost by 13 seconds overall to two other racers who beat me by 29 and 34 seconds in total transition time. I guess I need to spend more time practicing transitions and less time running and swimming!