The Mayflower INTERNATIONAL Triathlon at Plymouth - TriathlonOlympic

Swim was good. My first good tri swim. Waited a bit before I began to avoid washing machine. Very happy with swim. Good sighting, was surprised when I saw my swim time. Would like to be faster.

Train for speed over endurance.

First time being serious about any of this. Thought I did pretty well. DId not use glide, as I rented the suit, so I had to use hands to get out of suit. Still happy with how fast I moved. Husband can to T1 and cheered me on, told me I was doing a great job which really helped, told me not to rush which made me rush, which was good. Feeling good and competitive.

Go to the next level on T1. Maybe work on jumping on bike with shoes clipped in.

Started on a hill right away. Computer was broken! Not sure what happened, it worked the day before, should have checked it before the race. Only thing that worked was the cadence. Oh well. Was surprised at how hilly the course was. Had one gel and water/gatorade mix at beginning of bike. Gu is really yummy. Better than Hammer. New insulated bottle kept bottle frozen for much of bike. Good to know. Felt slightly dehydrated for most of bike. New to biking, got my first road bike less than one month ago, so I was very happy with my bike time. Goal for bike was 1:30 for 25 miles, and official time was 1:35 for 26 miles.

Nothing. Well, except check the computer right before the race.

Nothing.

I did not anticipate my legs not being able to move. Biggest underestimation of the entire race. I thought I could run 8:30 minute miles. HA! The complicated course did not help. Every part was open to regular, tourist traffic. Horrible. Bike trail full of non-racing bikers, kids, walkers and runners. I am used to races filled with racers, not pedestrians. Freaked out a little by how slow I was moving. People I passed on the bike were walk/running ahead of me. I never stopped running but I might as well have been walking. Ugh. At mile 5 water station (after mile 4 it was unmarked) they told us we had two miles left. This totally threw off my last mile. Were they going to make us do the weird mile loop at the beginning again? I ran slower thinking I had two miles to go. Only once I saw my parents near the finish line and they said "you're almost there" did I figure out I was near the end.

Do more LONG bricks.

Poorly designed finish line area. Was disappointed by the bagels and bananas offered. I have paid way less than $85 for a race with way better food, burgers, hot dogs, BEER...


Poor bike to run prep.


Didn't like the run course. Interested in HIM next year, but would not pick this course. The other racers felt vert competitive. I trained hard and wanted to have fun. Race wasn't very fun. I cheered on lots of people, especially on the bike. Nobody cheered me on. Would have been nice in my time of need on the run. I was always smiling. Didn't see many others smile. Too many tourists at the end of the course, walking through the run. Poorly supervised in high tourist areas.