Lake Geneva Triathlon - Sprint - TriathlonSprint

I was not happy about how short the swim was going to be. I didn't like that on the way out it was almost too shallow to swim. I hated seeing the weeds coming up at me (I'm used to the sandy bottom of Lake Michigan. But the rest was all my fault. I started way too fast, I guess, and shortly after turning the buoy I started breathing too hard, got a little freaked, and had to rest on my back for a second. I wasn't able to do more than a few freestyle strokes on the way back in.

Start slower!

The swim shook me, so I had to recenter myself. For me the race is about doing the best I can, and I needed to slow down. The transition area seemed huge, with people milling about waiting for their swim to start, so I wasn't even sure (in my addled state) if I was allowed to run in the transition area. There was a lot of sand that I was afraid would clog my cleats. Finally, the exit was disorganized and there was room only for one bike, so two of us had to follow a slow bike for about 200 yards, which was frustrating.

Put my helmet closer to my shoes.

I pushed myself pretty hard, but not so hard I didn't enjoy myself. I have no opportunity to train on hills, but I think I did a great job on them. There was one hill at the end that I misgeared, but overall I felt great. Only big think I didn't like was dismounting at one point to cross railroad tracks.

Not forgotten my water! But otherwise, I'm really satisfied with it.

The bike to run transition was a bit of a fiasco as well. There was no way for us to get into the transition area easily, and it added time. I had gone without socks for the ride, but I've never done that for a run and my feet were cold, so I put socks on and I don't regret it. So it added some time, big deal (except I would have placed a little better if my t-times were faster).

Nothing. I did what I knew.

In an attempt to rehydrate, I had a bit too much water. The "killer" hill was fine. I know I pushed myself hard because I was getting goosebumps. That doesn't stop me from being frustrated with myself for getting a bit too comfortable at times, because when I saw how close I came to doing 10 minute miles on hills, I just got mad. When I started running in Spring I was doing 10 minute miles on flat! But really, I had a pretty good time.

Pushed just a little harder on some of the downhill.

I should really think about doing that sometime. I guess you could consider my 1/3 plus mile walk back to the car as a warm-down.


Not sleeping the night before. Not having my water bottle (with the coconut water in it).


The maps could be much better. The directions to the packet pickup place could be better. I never figured out where the transition area was until I watched other people going there. The transition area was a free-for-all, with racking not organized by heat.

This was only my second triathlon--the other was four years ago--but I thought the Stoneman Tri in Springfield, IL, was much better run.