Reston Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I had been swimmming at a 9:15/400 pace in the indoor pool so I seeded myself at 2:20. This was my second tri and, like the first time, I struggled in the water. I am so not ready to try an open water swim...After the first 100, I just decided to survive. I walked a few feet and that calmed me down a bit. Towards the end I caught up with people, but decided not to pass in case it messed with my breathing.

Not sure. I've been swimming 1500 yds easily in training -- I guess I just need to keep doing these to get used it so I don't tense up.

Due to the rain, I had wrapped my bike seat in a plastic bag. When I got out of the pool, I was warmer than expected so I decided to go with a short-sleeved shirt. I also had laces to tie. All these things slowed me down, but just a bit. I probably could have been about 30 seconds faster, but I needed to settle a bit after the swim anyway.

Elastic laces.

I was pretty pleased with my time until I saw how I placed in the age group. I trained on the course and knew about the hill. After the first lap, I dropped my energy gel packed so I had to do the race without any energy boost. I was riding a hybrid and that probably cost me several minutes over the folks on racing bikes.

Train more. Figure out a way to not lose the energy gel.

After entering transition, I fell while trying to hit the lap button on my watch. I racked my bike on the wrong side and had to run around to get to my gear. I wasn't using clip-ons so I didn't need to change shoes. I took a few extra seconds to put on my pinney and grabbing my water belt, to give my legs a rest. Overall I thought I was really slow, but the considering all that happened, it wasn't bad!

Not fall and rack the bike correctly.

I was a bit disappointed in my time as I usually run closer to 28 minutes. But I didn't have to walk at all and I was passing a lot of people who did. Usually after the first 1/2 mile or so it gets easier and I get in a rhythm, but with hills, this didn't happen.

Relax more, don't worry about the hill at the end.

Water, stretch.


Trouble in the pool threw me off mentally a bit. The rain hampered set-up, but overall I was glad to survive.


After crossing the finish line, the strong smell of pizza almost made me sick. Please keep the food further from the finish line!