Stoneman Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was disappointed in my swim. I normally swim a 2:00-2:05/100 and was expecting to be out of the water in under 11 minutes. Due to this being my first OWS I would have been happy with 12 even but there was a clock at the swim exit and when I got there and saw 14 I was extremely disappointed.

I tried to start towards the back and to the outside but somehow I ended up in the MOP with a lot of people that went out too hard and were now slowing down and I had a hard time getting around them. My left goggle completely fogged over as well so I couldn't even see the buoy and every time I would try to sight my momentum would completly stop. I finally stopped for a few second to wipe the inside of my left goggle.

I managed to get around the buoy and head for home and finally....clear water. I bilateral breathe every third stroke so I was trying to sight every 7th stroke. I could see everyone when I breathed to the left but I still was swimming in clear water so I decided to take a good look and was about 20 feet away from everyone on the right. In hindsight it may have suited me well to stay over there and angle towards the finish but I instead went straight over and then got stuck behind a guy doing breaststroke and a girl doing backstroke that couldn't swim in a straight line to save her life. I didn't want to swim over her so I had to slow up and move to the outside. I then discovered, as I got close to the boat ramp, that I can't swim freestyle with my head out of the water so I resorted to doing breaststroke the last 12 feet.

Stay to the outside in clear water. I was happy with my breathing and the overall performance, just not my time. I think I just got stuck in the middle and couldn't get out. I will also be purchasing some anti-fog spray for my goggles and working on my sighting without taking my whole head out of the water.

I did the best I could do here...everything was such a blur all I could think about was getting on the bike. When I set up my transition area I had a small towel with my running shoes and socks all rolled up with baby powder ready to go. In addition, I had a small bottle of water to wash off my feet if they were gritty that I had loosened the lid on. So, I run to my bike, decided not to wash the feet and am trying to get my socks on without sitting down and I stumble, knock over the bottle of water and then step in it with my socks. So now I have a wet, gooey, baby powder paste inside both my socks. I just put on my shoes and went.

I had talked earlier about having my daughter write something on one of my hands so I could look down and remember why I was doing this so as a surprise he went and bought me wristbands...yes, wristbands, and then took them someplace and had little pink crystals put on them that spelled "Pa-T-T" (our nickname for our daughter is Pateetie). I think people thought I was channeling MJ that day as I was all in black with a white and pink wristband on one wrist...it was quite funny actually but I had to wear it. =) I didn't bother with the other one as I couldn't get it over my watch.

More practice to improve time.

I knew the bike was going to be a bit of a struggle. For starters, I really need to bike more and get a better bike (I have a Trek hybrid). I knew my bike training was sufficient enough to get to the finish line, just not very fast. I also have been battling a hamstring pull for the last two months so I went out at a comfortable pace but didn't want to use everything I had as I needed something for the run. I had a great time on the bike and a lot of people were very encouraging. I did manage to pass a couple of people on the bike (yes, even at the slow of a pace) so that was encouraging as well. My husband informed me after that I will be getting a new bike shortly...yeah. =)

Ride more, ride more, ride more. I knew this was going to be slow and I only have myself to blame.

I got to the transition area and the person next to me had racked their bike over so far I had no place to go with mine so that took a few seconds. Other than that, I took my helmet off, put my running hat on and left.

Nothing

Like I said, I have been battling a hamstring injury since May. I had just gotten my running to around 10 minute miles and then hurt myself and couldn't run for 5 weeks. Because my run fitness was still a work in progress, a 5 week break killed me and only in the last 2 weeks before the tri could I even put 3.1 miles together in training. I have no running background so I am still learning pacing but knew I was capable of 10-11 minutes miles. As I crossed the bridge with about 1/4 mile to go my husband is standing there yelling words of encouragment and fires off "I know you are more competetive than that" as a couple passes me. That apparently got me going as I managed to spring the last 1/4 mile and realized, as I crossed the finish line, that I probably didn't do the best that I was capable of on the run.

That being said, I talked to a few people on the course, passed a few people and had a good time. I was definitely focused and trying to find my pace but a "good morning" every now and then seemed approrpriate.

Keep running....I am currently running 16-20 miles a week trying to improve the distance and get my times down. Run more to run faster...right?!?

I was fortunate enough to have multiple friends come out and cheer me on and they had signs and were yelling for me so I stretched and went and talked to them for a bit. I then collected my things from transition and spent the rest of the afternoon boating.


Prior injury not 100% recovered
Better bike training
Better run pacing
Better sighting on the swim


For my first race it was great. At the beginning, there was one guy with a portable megaphone which I could barely hear anything on. I know there was some general confusion because a girl next to me in the swim didn't know which buoy to swim to and was asking some other questions. I also was surprised at the placement of the lifeguard/boats/canoes in the water as they seemed really far off course....like if someone needed help I wasn't sure how quickly they could get there and I don't think if anyone needed to rest they could just grab on to something without swimming quite a distance to get there.

That being said, it was my first tri so I don't have a lot to compare it to and everything else was well organized and the volunteers were great. I well definitely be back to do it again next year and I have my next one in 3 weeks!