T-Gator Triathlon Series - Race #2 - TriathlonSprint

First open water tri. Have done 5 pool tri's. Longest pool swim was 200 meters, so 500 meter open water was quite a jump up. Was in last wave to start (30 and over men). I was genuinely worried that I would be last out of the water. Treaded water at the start line for about a minute before they said go. Felt really good as I waited, like I was ready. I had practiced transisitioning from crawl to backstroke in the pool just in case I needed backstroke. Tried to take off as the director said "go". Everytime I would try to take off, I would swim onto someones back. Backed off several times and just treaded water. Finally I saw a clear spot between two swimmers and aimed between them. Bumped them a little going through and then just swam. Never broke rhythm, must have gone wide right because I quit seeing people to my right. (I only breathed to my right) As I reached the buoy and stood up to exit, I turned and saw approx. 20 people behind me, still in the water. Whoa! Slow but not as slow as I thought.

Move far right at start to get in a rhythm sooner.

Was my fastest T1 to date I believe. Had everything laid out well. First race not to bother with socks. Yes, had been training without them. Still room for improvement.

Clip in faster. Currently use crank bros quatro and I run with the shoes then clip in. May practice keeping shoes on bike to see if it makes a difference for me.

Told a friend doing the same race my strategy beforehand; Survive the swim, toast the bike, aim to throw up on the run. I had never biked above 17.5 mph for a race. Last race listed a 20.4 but course was short and included transistions. Would have been thrilled with a 20 mph avg. since I knew that this was an actual 15 miler. Felt that my run segment would be painful but I could handle it, since my run is my strongest of the three. Past twice on the bike and caught quite a few, mostly mountain bikes and such but a few guys in their 20's which started 6 minutes ahead of me in the water. I later caught one of the guys on the run that passed me on the bike.

Train harder, put more miles in.

Second tri to use Yankz. Gorilla glued my insoles into my racing flats so that they would not scrunch up. Took several attempts to get my shoes on at my last race. Also put a touch of powder on the heel of the shoes to help feet slide in. Shoes went on great this time!

Also, first tri to slip out of my biking shoes as I came into transistion, much faster then unclipping then stopping then running to the rack with my bike shoes on.

Fumbled a little getting my race belt on. Also, want to work on flying dismount. Tried it once before during a brick and felt kind of woozy. Didn't want to face plant with witnesses. Ha!

Was expecting tough run, due to pushing on the bike and the temp. Wasn't disappointed. Probably sounded like an asymatic person trying to catch their breath during the first part of the run. Suprisngly felt better as the run progressed. Breathing and heartrate seemed to stabalyze. Passed quite a few on the run. Felt stronger as the race went on.

Missed starting my Garmin on the way out of transistion. Dang it! Didn't know my pace, just ran. Recently ran a 5-K with a 7:15 pace and last week a 4 miler with a 7:27 pace. So this was not far off.

walking cool down.


Heat!!!!

and training.


Started running last year after 10 or so years of too much couch time. Saw in the newspaper that this race was going to happen in August last year. Wife and I went to the race to watch. First tri to ever watch. I told her excitedly that I was going to start doing tris. At the time I was weighing nearly 240 lbs.(6 feet tall) Almost a year later, I have finally completed my first open water tri. Also down to 196 lbs. on race day. Still a ways to go, but a great feeling to actually "race" instead of "survive" an event.