New Jersey State Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Lots of things. Since this was my first race and everyone was so friendly, I didn't want to be pushy, since I figured I wasn't placing in my AG anyway. But I'm MUCH better than this in practice, and next time I'll be more assertive about starting up front. In the last few weeks of training, I was doing 1500m swims in 26:30 (on average--ranging from 25:45 to 27:20). So this was really slow for me, especially for a nice, smooth course that was incredibly well-marked. My issues were assertiveness, navigation, and pure naivete :-)

I practiced so many bricks, but I never tried to simulate a swim-bike transition. I sprinted the last ~50m, and felt fine when I stood up. About ten seconds into running into T1, it felt like I was being tackled in the chest and abdomen simultaneously and continuously! I couldn't catch my breath, and I felt incredibly nauseated.

However, I knew my overall times wouldn't be impressive, but I practiced my "fast transition" so much that I was determined to make this time count :-) So I pushed through feeling horrible, threw on my shades and helmet, and ran to the mount line. At least that looked cool!

Practice swim-to-bike transitions more so I don't have that bizarre physiological response to it again! I did dozens of bricks, but I never felt a tenth as bad as I did during this transition! But I'm really happy with my T1 time and the fact that I pushed through the pain :-)

The course was actually 25.9 miles according to my computer, so I didn't feel too bad about my pace. The course was really nice, and the police and spectators were awesome!!!

Train more, and on more varied terrain. I could have gone a little harder without sacrificing my legs for the run. I've been reading instead of doing, and most people lament that they should have saved their legs for the run, so I didn't push too hard. I only started training seriously for this leg less than four weeks ago when I finally bought a bike. (Before that, I was just taking spin classes). I've been training on steep hills near my house, which has definitely upped the learning curve and made me better at cycling faster, but I had no idea how fast I was capable of going without depleting my energy...

Point is, I need to train more :-)

Great transition! I'm happy with this.

Nothing, other than get faster :-)

SLOW!!! Here's where I learned my lesson about nutrition and NOT exertion on other legs of the race, which I thought would be my problem. My fiance (who I've watched race a dozen times and got me into this sport) cannot eat before races. He also can't eat before running or swimming normally, so I figured we were just different that way, and I ate a (small) bowl of cereal and a banana before the race. I realized while biking that this might have been too much, but it became FAR too apparent when I started running.

Before February, I was exclusively a runner and not a triathlete. I've never raced, but we've done 16 mile runs in under two hours. My "brick" pace is slower, but not by much...after riding 30+ miles, I usually can finish my routine 7.5 mile run at an average pace near 8:00 minutes/mile.

Lesson learned? Triathlon is hard!!! There are so many factors here that I could not have predicted despite too much time on this website and literally 3-4 hours a day of training. Unless you literally race an Olympic tri on your own, there is no way to simulate a race like this. Next time, I'll skip solid foods and stick to gels. Hopefully that'll help. My problem with the run was entirely due to abdominal pain and nausea. I wasn't at all tired, and never slowed down or walked, but every time I tried to pick up the pace, my stomach rejected the idea. It was frustrating, and I almost would have preferred finding out I pushed myself too hard on the bike or swim or something..

Hugging my awesome fiance and family at the finish line, but not too hard :-)


Food. I'm convinced that's it, and so is my fiance, who coached me through training and this whole experience. He's been praising me all day, and I'm thrilled to have finished strong, but I'm a little disappointed. Given my practice times, I honestly thought I'd be in the 2:50 range. I said I'd be thrilled with under 3:00 because I didn't think that would be an issue! I thought I was setting myself up for success with that expectation.

But all of this is about learning. The only thing that bothered me was that I didn't feel depleted at the end. I expected to feel like collapsing. I'd be fine with it if it was an adrenaline thing, but it was simply a result of not pushing as hard as I could because I didn't want to humiliate myself by getting physically ill on the run course. I definitely could have gone harder if I ate less :-)

But I'm happy overall :-) If nothing else, I paced myself well and stayed strong through a lot of discomfort.


When we picked up our packets yesterday, I expressed me excitement about my first race. Denise from the Jersey Shore Tri Club actually hugged me and gave me a full orientation to the race!

I may be a newbie, but I'm an experienced spectator. I chose this race because my fiance loves it and I really enjoyed watching this one more than others. As an athlete, the experience is even more amazing...not only are the RDs, spectators, and volunteers wonderful and supportive, but the athletes are equally terrific!!!

My fiance is always in the top handful of finishers, so he hasn't experienced quite the level of teamwork and kindness I did smack in the middle of the pack...when I passed people on the run or bike, they rooted for me, and I did the same. In the last half mile, I ended up running alongside another woman, and as we approached the finish, we encouraged each other. After we finished, she sought me out to give me a hug! What an amazing introduction to this sport!!! Everyone I encountered was phenomenal.