Pterodactyl Sprint Tri - TriathlonSprint

My swim was a little slow. My sister and I swam together the entire time, and we kept getting stuck behind slow swimmers. However, I felt really good the entire time, and had plenty of gas after the swim.

Swim further into shore. I stood up when the water was chest high, and I could have easily swam another 5-10 yards. Stupid. Beat my sister out of the water! I started smiling and giggling as we ran out of the water together, and she got her foot on the pad before I did!

Horrible T1! For some stupid reason, I put my helmet on BEFORE I put on my shirt (I was wearing a swim suit and wanted something over it for bike/run.) Needless to say, I had a hard time getting the shirt over my head. Then, one of the safety pins holding my number to the shirt came loose, so I had to fix that. Plus, because of the rain, everything was wet. Also, the start of the biking portion was in the grass and that was awkward and slow.

Wear a trisuit so I don't have to mess around w/ a shirt! Bring a garbage bag to place over transition stuff, so stuff stays dry (in case of rain.)

I was very happy w/ my avg. speed. Last year, when I did this course on a mountain bike, my avg speed was 14+ mph. Eventually, I'd like to be able to go in the 18-19 mph range, but, for my first sprint on a road bike, I was satisfied, for the most part.

I did run into some trouble at the beginning of the bike. I felt like something was wrong w/ my helmet, and I actually STOPPED my bike to take off my helmet, to inspect. Nothing was wrong w/ it, so off I went! Then, my timing chip was flapping, and I was worried about it falling off or getting stuck in my gears, so I was messing around w/ that for about 2 miles (finally got it tucked in.) I probably could have shaved another 1-2 minutes off my time if it weren't for those two issues.

Also, the course was a little shorter than 12.5 miles--runfit had to change the course because of park requirements.

Have faith that NOTHING is wrong with the helmet! Buy biking shoes (I have cages currently.) Make sure timing chip is secure at the beginning of the race.

Log in more miles!!!

Drink way more, as it affected my run.

Shoe came untied and timing chip fell off.

double knot shoes and secure timing chip at the beginning of the race.

My hamstrings/calves were incredibly tight for the first 5 or so minutes. I felt HORRIBLE! I realized that I was incredibly thirsty at the very beginning of the run--grabbed a water at the first relief station, but managed to spill it on my face as I ran.

Finally settled into a more comfortable pace after about a 1/2 mile, although I never felt good. The next 2 water stations, I stopped and walked while I drank, and that worked out much better. However, never felt completely hydrated. I was thirsty the entire time.

A lady from my AG passed me at the very end. I couldn't catch her, but, it did motivate me to finish hard!

Drink more on the bike!!! More bike to run bricks! More interval training to improve time. Would like to be around 9 min flat per mile in the future.

Immediately after crossing the finish line, I felt pretty dizzy, and one of the guys taking off timing chips, helped me to stand up (I was leaning over.) Plus, my head was really throbbing. Plus, I was confused about my finish time. I thought my time was comparable to last year's sprint, and I was really upset that I hadn't beaten my PR. Finally figured out that I needed to subtract 10 min from the time I saw as I crossed (duh!) Started to feel a little better, and even better still when I found my sister and my dad (dad was a bystander for this one.) My sister and I grabbed some grub, and waited for some results.


Definitely hydration and lack of brick training. Did a couple, but not enough.


I didn't like the start of the bike--it was hard getting started on the grass. Plus, the entire bystander area was really confusing, and it was hard for our "fans" to see us!