General Smallwood Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Not being a strong swimmer (ran all summer trainging for a 10-miler, never trained for a triathlon) I had to breaststoke most of the way. I was surprised by my time - thought I'd do alot worse. I think the wetsuit (first time wearing one) helped alot. Actually got hot in the wetsuit - was totally expecting to be cold. Also didn't care much for the sea grass that was attacking me on the swim in.

Need to train much harder for the swim and learn to freestyle.

Didn't like putting wet feet into socks. made it had to get socks comfortable.

Don't know.

My ride was a 1978 Schwinn Le Tour III (original). Only thing added were toe clips. Not the best bike and heavy by modern bike standards (30lbs+) but I felt pretty good and was surprised by my time. I was aiming for 1 hour so thrilled to beat that. Strategy was simple, spot the bike in from of me and try to catch up and pass it. Wound up in a see-saw passing contest with another rider. We must of past each other 6 or 8 times each over the course. I think this "contest" helped me keep up my pace.

Train harder for the bike portion of the race. I only did about four training rides for the race. I'd also try to borrow a more modern bicycle. There were moments when I felt as if I was riding a brick.

I rode the bicycle in my running sneakers (don't have fancy clip-on pedals or shoes)so didn't have to change shoes. That saved me some time.

Not sure.

Legs were a bit wobble at the start of the run and since the run opened up with an up hill stretch I had a hard time finding a comfortable rhythm. Generally, I was not happy with my run performance. Was targeting a 9 minute mile pace but had no gas after the bike ride. I probably pushed the bike harder than I should have which cost me energy for the run.

Better conditioning for the bike would have help considerably on the run.

Don't know - happy to have finished first triathlon event.


I never trained for a triathlon. I signed up on a whim two weeks before the event hoping a summer of running would pull me through.


Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Race was well organized and not too crowded. Good race for a beginner. I signed up for an Olympic distance race next spring that I will try to train properly for (take up swimming and biking again).