Kona Eastside Triathlon - TriathlonMini Sprint

This was my first swim in an actual event and every went pretty well. I started at the back outside of my swim group thinking I would be one of the slower swimmers, but quickly found out that I'm not that slow. I was getting kicked felt like I was running over people.

Start in the middle of the group since that's where I feel I need to be now. Continue working on breathing in the water, technique feels fine.

First swim to bike transition and I guess it went okay. I raced to finish the swim and ran up the ramp to the transition area. Immediately to a shot of power gel and threw on my shirt. I then sat down to put on my socks and shoes. (Having wet feet made this very difficult.) The put my helmet on and ran with my bike to the start.

Dry feet before attempting to put on socks, or don't wear socks at all.

Started on the bike and felt strong but missed what I thought was the turn down the out and back, so I turned around and started trucking. There was a very strong headwind on the out, so I was pushing as hard as I could just to get through it. Then I was notified by a marshal that I had taken the wrong turn and was told to get on the right side of the road, which was across a 75 yard grass median. So I stopped, picked up my bike and ran across the median and started biking again. I was able to push and finish the headwind half and then started to really push while I had the tailwind. While finishing the ride I was able to complete a full dismount, just like I practiced.

DRINK WATER. I realized after the race that I didn't drink any water on the bike ride. More work into the wind for long period of time.

Great transition, got to complete a full dismount with no one blocking the line. I ran through the dismount line and into the transition area. Slipped off my helmet and slipped on my bike shoes and was off.

Nothing, everything went perfectly. Continue at getting faster through the transition area.

Did worse on the run than I've been doing in training runs. Probably due to not drinking enough water on the bike and not training enough.

Will continue training to run, want to get below 10:00 miles for the next tri in late August.

Walked around, enjoyed the music, and had some vitamin water and gatorade. Went back out to watch the Sprint guys finish up.


Not drinking enough water, and the screw-ups during the bike cost me my goal of 1:10. I'll try and be better prepared and know the course better for next time.


The venue was nice and all the volunteers were very helpful. I do wish the drink station outside the run start was manned prior to the start of the run so I could have rehydrated before running and I wish the bike trail was better marked because I wasn't the only one who was confused about where to turn.