The Rookie Triathlon - TriathlonMini Sprint

Since this was my first race I wanted to stay to the back and side of the herd and thought I was. I looked behind me right before the start and realized I was stuck right in the middle of the pack. I tried to edge my way to the side but it was too late. Man that was rough. For the first 100 meters or so I couldn't put 2 strokes together without getting kicked or punched. I was basically dog-paddling for survival and was completely frazzled and out of breath. I saw a few people scrambling to the sides and hanging on to the ski ramps getting help from lifeguards and was determined not to do that. I rolled over and back-stroked for a bit to gather my wits and catch my breath til I got to the end buoy. Once I got there I saw that enough people had cleared that I might be able to put a few strokes together and swim all the way, which I did. I was able to swim the whole way back smoothly which I was very pleased with and still had plenty in the tank which tells me I could do quite a bit more distance. I was hoping to be sub 8 minutes but after experiencing the first 100m I'm actually not all that disappointed. A friend of mine who has done dozens of events said it was one of the roughest starts he's ever been a part of.

Make sure I stay to the back and outside so I can avoid getting pummeled.

As it was my first ever I was a little "off" coming out of the water and didn't have the balance I would have liked to have to put my socks on standing up. I just stood there for a second trying to get my bearings and saw someone else sitting down to put theirs on so I did the same. Once I had that taken care of I was in good shape, grabbed my bike and jogged with my bike to the course. Felt like I was moving pretty quickly til I saw the other times. Oh well.

Probably start training without socks so I could skip that part.

I was happy to be on the bike and started pushing it pretty hard despite feeling like my heart rate was a little high. There was a pretty good hill right off the bat but I attacked it and passed quite a few people there. I kept my pace up but when I saw the 2 mile marker something told me I was pushing too hard so I backed it off just a hair and settled into a nice rhythm for the rest of the way. I must be doing something wrong on most hills, though. I always seemed to pass quite a few people on the downhills but got passed regularly on most of the hills going up.

Not sure I'd do much differently here. I was hoping to come in at 40 minutes and I was super close.

I did a much better job here. Threw my stuff down, slipped on my shoes, high-fived my daughter and off I went.

Nothing that I can think of.

My body felt fine but I had pushed it a little too much maybe on the bike because I felt like my heart rate was too high for me to sustain the pace I started at. I felt like I might as well be walking I was going so slow but I was determined to find a running pace that I could keep instead of going too fast and having to walk.

I think this just boils down to training more/harder.

Grabbed some water first, then it was beer and burger time. Walked around to keep my legs moving a bit but enjoyed seeing all my friends.


I just need to train harder. Looking back, I've been putting in about half effort on the amount of training I've done.


This was my first to participate in (watched friends do Ironman Cozumel) and it was a lot of fun. I'll definitely do it again next year.