Turkey Triathlon 2009 - TriathlonSprint

The water was extremely cold. I just wasn't prepared enough for open water swimming. Nerves and discomfort in the wetsuit made me almost turn around 100 meters into the swim. I mostly did breast stroke and side stroke, rolled over onto my back a couple times and did try freestyle a few times, but just couldn't get a rhythm going and not being able to even see my hands in the water ahead of me was unnerving.

What I will do differently is prepare. I will be spending time in a lake, in my wetsuit swimming, swimming, swimming.

It was a long perhaps 300yards from the waters edge to my bike. Really a long way. Once there, I was out of the wetsuit pretty quickly and into my shoes and helmet without problem. The bike mount point was only about 20 yards from my rack so didn't have to run in the bike shoes very far at all.

Bring a container to rinse my feet. Had to stick my feet in another racers rinse water as I was running by to clean off the sandy feet. Everything else went pretty good. If not for the long distance from the water to the rack, my transition would have been very quick.

Was a fairly good ride. Not as flat as described in the course description. Spoke with a number of other racers who felt the same way. Drank a fair amount, could have drank more and probably should have. Didn't consume any of the carb gel I had.

Work on hills more in training. Drink more. Incorporate in some carbs.

Transition was ok. Dismount was same as mount only about 20 yards from my rack so that went quick. I wound up sitting down to put my running shoes on. The run start was a long distance from my rack, maybe 150 yards so that took a chunk of the time.

I won't sit down next time. Take in some carb gel.

I ran/walked as I expected I would. The illness that I had been suffering for 8 of the 15 weeks pre-race was still lingering and my lungs hurt terribly. I just couldn't get the oxygen I needed and couldn't keep steadily running. I probably ran 100-200 yards and walked 200 or so yards and so on for the whole run.

Obviously put in more time running, hopefully not being stung by a stingray and being sick with walking pneumonia during the next race preparation period will give me a chance to prepare properly.

Walked


Stingray sting that infected in the 5th week of training that took nearly a month to heal before I could run. Viral cough that turned into walking pneumonia that kept me from doing any serious training for many weeks pre-race.


My 1st Triathlon. The event itself was good. Officials and volunteers were great. Organization was great. The description of the course was not as accurate as myself and numerous other racers I spoke with agreed that it could have been. Location was great. I will definitely do this event again. Hopefully I'll be better prepared both physically and mentally. Illness and Injury really played a large part in how difficult this race was for me being my 1st triathlon.