Hammerfest Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Well, this was my worse swim by far. I have only done 1 pool swim since my HIM on 8/21 so I was already out of swim shape. On top of that, I have never swam in salt water and never with any kind of waves. To finally top off my morning,I only breath to the left which faced directly at the waves as we started at an angle to the beach going left to right. 150 yds in, I swallowed so much water I was gagging and crawling was out of the question. I basically breast stroked and side stroked to the first 2 buoys. By time I hit the 3rd buoy and was heading to shore, I was so exhausted, I still had a tough time crawling. I finally reached the beach and just felt horrible. I pretty much walked most of the long strecth to the transition.

Obviously I can't take 5 weeks off and I need to learn to breath on both sides.

Good transition for me with no problems.

Nothing

I was happy with my bike. From so much breast and side stroking, my legs felt pretty rubbery through the 1st of two loops. I was also a little queezy from the salt but not too bad. It was mostly flat with a few small hills that you can power right over. I am never sure of pacing on the bike so I tried to stay with riders that went by me and this worked well. By time I hit the 2nd loop, I had my legs back and picked up the pace. I slowed down the last 3rd as I started to feel a bit sick. I got out of my aero bars and slowed by maybe a 1/2 mile per hour and that did the trick. I went into transition feeling good

I think I hit the bike just about right.

Transition went well. Helmet and bike shoes off, running shoes, hat and race number on.

Nothing

I started off slow on the run as I was not confident in my conditioning. I had taked 3 weeks off from Timberman and then put in too good weeks of training. About a half mile in, I realized I had good legs and could push the pace. I did get some stomach cramps but not too bad. They did not slow me down but did keep me from going into the next gear the last mile or so. Th run course was beautiful. I usually just put my head down and go but I found myself looking around quite a bit. The whole run went great. Between miles 2.5 and 3.0, some one caught up to me so I picked up the pace and we ran the rest of the way in together. I caught up to Rob with only about .75 miles to go and he only finsihed a few seconds back.

I think I could have started off faster but given the circumstances, I was happy with my pacing

Waited for Rob to cross the line then went over to snack table and grabbed a energy drink and banana. Went back to the finish line to see Max, Glen, Joanne and Kathy finish. Oh yeah, I actually remembered to stretch a little bit which I always seem to forget.


Drinking about 4 gallons of sea water and breast stroking the entire course :)


This is a beautiful race and I thought they did a great job on organization considering the event was much larger than usual. The bike and run courses were very scenic. I am not I will be back because of the saltwater but we will see. It was great to meet with so many BT'ers, it makes the events so much more enjoyable