Triceratops Tri - TriathlonSprint

My wave went first (the 29 and under wave). No one was moving up to the starting line, and I sure as hell didn't want to be out front after my experience at Hawk Island! So I joked "come one guys, move up...I don't want to be up there"! Some finally did but I still ended up 2nd in line on the far right (outside). I didn't want to have to swim 25 yards just to get past the starting line.

The horn went off and I felt pretty good for the first 200 or so meters. My right goggle filled with water immediately, but I just pounded my way though it. At some point before the turn around, I got smacked/swam over by a guy coming up to my right. No big deal...it gave me an opportunity to fix the goggles.

I had open water for most of the swim. I swam far to the outsides which probably added a little yardage to the course for me. I felt fine, but I wasn't feeling as fast or strong as I did on Sunday. I was lacking energy.

Overall, this swim felt longer and slower. But I would still consider it one of my more successful Tri swims. I swam freestyle the entire way. I rounded the bouy like a pro. I never sucked down water and never had issues with breathing. My sighting was fine. It was a decent swim.

Eat something before the race maybe. I was lacking energy. It was probably caused by the heat too...but having some food in my belly may have helped.

Wow...I think this is a PR transition time for me. It sure felt like it took longer than a minute and a half. But alas, I was #1 out of 14 in my age group and 106 out of 250 overall for my T1 time. I was finally 1st at something at a Tri! Yay!

I'm going to practice mounting the bike with my shoes already clipped in. That will cut some more time from T1. Not using a wetsuit will also cut some time. I can see sub 1:00 T1 times in my near future.

I felt good going out. But...a little shorter than a mile into the ride, I dropped my chain. WTF! I'd never dropped a chain on my new bike. I unclipped and pulled off into the grasss to inspect. Apparently my goggles wanted to come along for the ride! They were tangled in with my chain. I fiddled with it until I finally got the darn thing loose. Bad news...the goggles were wrecked. Good news...it only killed about 3-4 minutes before I was back on my bike (with nasty black greasy hands).

The rest of the ride was uneventful.

My shifting wasn't as good as it was on Sunday, but still an improvement from earlier this spring. I think part was due to more people being on the roads and in front of me causing me to either forget to shift in time or worry that there wasn't enough room to pass them on the downhill or uphill, thus slowing down or not pushing as hard as I could have at those times.

My T2 time was the slowest in my age group. I took time to put on my socks because I'd developed blisters during Sundays run. I throw on shorts because I hate how I look in just the compression tri shorts (and I want to look good for the pictures). I throw on a hat, my running shoes and a race belt. Oh....and I took a good long drink from my water bottle.

Hustle a little more. Run more without socks so I won't have to waste time putting them on in transition. Not sure what else I could do to get faster here...just practice I guess.

Hot...thirsty...tired. Blah.

Train properly ahead of time. Maybe, on a ridiculously hot day like that, take a water bottle with me for the run. Oh...and HTFU.

I chugged a full bottle of water in under a minute (PR?) and made my way to the finish line area to cheer on the rest of the BT crew. I also enjoyed some of the watermelon and strawberries that Trish brought...thank you!


Heat. Lack of run training. Goggles stuck in bike chain. Lack of HTFU'ing.


This was a fun race. I had a nice time hanging with the BT crew...Jamie, Jason, Susan, Jennifer Lynn, Courtney, Dave , Dan and Trish. The race was well organized and lots of people came out for a hot, Wednesday evening Triathlon. Pretty cool.