Firecracker Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Three words: High Surf Advisory. This was the worst swim I've ever done. I lost count of how many times I had to stop just to catch a breather only to get tossed around by the surf. I panicked and ended up backstroking for probably 300 meters just to have my face out of the water. The remaining distance was a combination of breaststroke and freestyle. I still ended up with mouthfuls of salt water.

I don't know. Maybe learn to swim in really rough water? Or just opt not to do the race.

After that brutal swim, I just walked through transition. My legs just felt dead and I had to get my heart rate settled.

Nothing.

I felt tired but, once I started passing people ahead of me, the engine started to feel better. Once the legs felt better I was able to push harder than I felt like doing after the swim.

Nothing much. More time on the bike to improve the engine.

Slower than I wanted to do after having practiced.

Keep practicing. Learn to run without socks for these distances.

I decided to work on staying within a specific heart rate zone I expect to use for the Tinman in July. Doing so meant being a little slower than I know I'm capable of in a sprint tri 5k.

Nothing. After the swim, I treated his race as strictly a training session.

Took a walk along the beach. Drank some water and had a blueberry muffin.


A very bad swim.


I have mixed feelings about this race. Although I met my time goals for the bike and run, the swim just buried me. At first I thought they might cancel (or at least make optional) the swim because of the 3-6 foot swells, but there was no announcement of it in the race briefing with the start gun going off a couple of minutes after the briefing. I really don't think I'll compete in this race if the ocean swells are like what I experienced on race day.