Gary Kirby Triathlon for Cancer Research - TriathlonSprint

I felt good throughout the whole swim - my breathing went very well and I never felt out of breath. My arms got a little tired over the last couple of lengths, but I never had to stop. I got passed at the halfway point by a guy starting two spots behind me. In the warmup lanes we were talking about times and he said he was 25 secs faster per 100 than we were. He passed me smoothly at the wall, so I didn't feel I lost any time. The guy who started behind me caught me right at the finish and we jumped out of the pool at the same time. The crossing under the lanes probably cost me some time, but overall I felt like I held close to my training pace (6:30/300) plus the time to run out of the pool area. I'm certainly not fast through the water, but I felt like I was close to my speed potential.

Work on Speed! Work on Speed some more. I felt comfortable with the 300 yards other than a little arm fatigue, but my speed is pretty bad. I'm not sure if it's technique or effort, but I will work on this for the next race

I didn't practice the transition before the race, but I thought it out in my head quite a bit. I took a crate along to sit on while I dried my feet and put on my socks and shoes. I thought I was going pretty fast compared to others around me, but I was shocked that it took me almost 2 minutes. For my first try I was ok with the time and didn't feel like I made any huge mistakes.

Try to go faster. Going to a bike with clipless pedals/shoes will likely help here as I can skip sitting down and putting on socks/running shoes.

Felt a little like I was bringing a knife to a gun fight by riding my MTB. Overall I was happy with my race time as it was over a minute faster than my training ride on the race course. I was able to keep pace with a pack of riders on the flats and could gain slightly on the downhills, but I got dropped repeatedly on the climbs. I got my doors blown off by some of the fast guys (and chicks!) on TT bikes early on, but was able to pass a handful of folks as the ride went on. I held my pace based on the burn in my legs and I never get too terribly winded on the bike. I was told after the race that my four laps were very consistent time-wise, and I felt pretty good overall with my effort and results. Definitely need to look into a road bike or a TT bike for future races. I screwed up on lap 2 and dropped my water bottle while trying to grab it with my left hand (dumb move). After dropping the f-bomb I decided to turn around and get it - probably cost me 20 or 30 seconds.

Ride a TT bike, for sure. Go with clipless pedals vs. platforms as well. Keep up the training to improve speed.

I screwed up here when I went to rack the bike - I turned down the wrong section and didn't realize it until I saw my towel in the next row. Probably cost me 10 seconds, but I was surpirsed the whole T2 took me 52. Considering all I did was run in, rack my bike, remove my helmet, and run out I thought I would be near the top for T2 times. It was nice to not have to change shoes.

Pay better attention to where my transition spot is, run faster with my bike.

Terrible run for me overall. My first 1.5 miles went ok, but I came off the bike with a lot of stomach gas - it slowly burped up and I felt better. I considered the turnaround at the traffic circle the halfway point since it was the end of the long climb, but once I entered the neighborhood the heat and sun cooked me. I had to walk some in the back of the neighborhood and up the hill out of there. I also walked some up the hill by the lake and up through the town hall. Afterwards I felt extremely overheated and attribute it to the compression top trapping in the body heat.

Get rid of the under armour for the run. Train over longer times and do longer bike/run bricks in training.

After I crossed the finish line I poured a couple of bottles of water over my head and back to cool down. I didn't feel overly winded - mostly too hot and a little loopy. I sat down for about 5 minutes and felt better rather quickly.


The heat, my bike, and not enough training (swim speed, bike/run bricks)


I think I made a good choice to make this my first tri - difficult enough to challenge me yet not so large and overwhelming. Most everyone was friendly and welcoming, and it's for a great cause. I wasn't sure doing a tri was for me while I was running, but afterwards I was already looking forward to signing up for another event.