Splash Triathlon @ Sea World - TriathlonSprint

This was a much better swim for me that my first triathlon. I was a little freaked out after my poor performance last time and 3 times the number of people in this race. The start was very well organized. They had us starting no more than 2 at a time. I passed a good portion of my wave in the first 200M. I went out a bit hard and ended up falling back to the middle by the time the swim ended.

Control my swim in the first 200M. I was so hyped up I tired myself out around 350-400M. I kept overswimming the people I was drafting. I should work on drafting.

T1 was about .25 mile from the swim exit. Just outside the swim exit the left an area for shoes. Since I was biking in my shoes, I decided to take my time. and get my shoes on right (I was going to be in them for the rest of the race). Plus, I had a .25 mile jog to do.

I thought this transition setup was horrible. Not only do you have a .25 mile run in the transition but my assigned transition spot was on the other end of the bike exit. With 1300 participants, the transition area was gi-normous - and it was still packed. It seemed to take forever to maneuver out of the T1 transition... and there was no way at all to run with your bike. More on this below...

Overall this was a good transition for me. If you take out 3-4 minutes of running to the bike and trying to make my way to the exit. I had a respectable transition time.

Once I finally made it out to the bike course... This was a good ride. I'm glad I chose an early swim wave, the course was nice and open during the first loop. At the end of the second loop folks from the larger waves behind me were starting to exit T1. Things started getting more congested during the second loop. Overall I did really well on the hills. And, unlike my first triathlon, I did quite a bit of passing. (I only passed one person during the bike last time).

I need to work on making myself drink more during the ride. Not drinking really hurt my run. I also need to work on getting my average speed up. I guess that will come with time.

Once again, I had to walk through the masses to get all the way back down to my assigned transition spot. It did give me a good opportunity to get my legs under me and get them aclimated back to land.

Drink during the movement back to my transition area.

Not a great run for me. I walked one of the big hills right at the begining of the run because my calves were starting to cramp. I also walked a short stretch during the out and back because of my calves.

I need to drink more during the bike.

I had a bunch of gatorade in my bag. I walked all the way back to my transition spot and drank almost everything I had left.


I think I was pretty dehydrated at the end of the run. My muscles were starting to cramp. If I would have been more aware of keeping myself hydrated I think I could have run better and finished stronger.


I did not like the layout of the transition area. It made for some major congestion and some pretty difficult navigation. In my opinion they should cut the number of participants by 400 and move the transition closer to the swim exit. For all the hype about racing at Sea World, the course was mostly outside the park or behind the venues.

In re-reading this I guess I've been mostly negative. So in closing let me say this : I had a great time. I'm very happy with my times and I'm glad I did this race.