Under the Influence Of...Adrenaline - TriathlonSprint

The entire swim course was crazy weedy. Weeds wrapped around my wrists and ankles, and got in my face. Gross! That was pretty distracting, but overall the swim went well. I'm really slow and had only done one OWS, so the end result was about what I'd anticipated. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I was able to stay on course.

My stroke needs a lot of work in the off-season!

Running out of the water was interesting -- I hadn't practiced that transition at all and didn't realize how weird my legs would feel. Fumbled my way through the whole transition, especially getting socks on my wet feet and then the shoes (which are a bit too big to go sockless). Running my bike uphill in road shoes didn't go too well, and I had a really tough time clipping in and getting started. Embarrassingly tough in front of the spectators. ;)

I just switched to clipless a week ago, which probably wasn't the best idea. Next time should be much smoother!

The bike was interesting, especially after having such a hard time getting started. The first few miles went really well, but I think I went out too fast. The course was much hillier than the routes I've been training on, so the hills started getting to me about five miles in. Stopped once to see if I could help another racer whose chain had gotten tangled, walked up the biggest hill, then stopped one more time at about 12 miles when I dropped my water bottle(!). Saw maybe 3-4 racers the whole time, since our AG started last, and I'm slow.

Train more on hills, not let them get into my head -- I didn't *need* to walk up that one -- and not drop my bottle. Also work on pacing.

Fumbled around quite a bit again. I was a little frantic and ticked that the bike leg hadn't gone very well.

Definitely need to practice running the bike in with road shoes on.

The course was described as mostly flat, but apparently the RD and I have differing views of what that means. Walked up the short but steep hill coming out of transition, then started to run. Gave my 5 y/o a high five and the husband a thumbs-down as I passed them about a half mile in. Legs started to feel better shortly after that. Walked through the water stop around mile one, then headed downhill. Course turned around at a cul-de-sac, then had to stop and wait for a car. There was a decent-sized hill around mile two. I had every intention of running it, but realized about halfway up that I could walk faster. Hee. Walked through the second water stop at the top of the hill. Ran the rest, except for one short stop where some little girls offered to spray me with a water bottle.

Like the bike, I need to run on hills -- or choose flatter races.

Inadequate hill training combined with first-timer nerves. I've run races up to half marathons, but tris are a whole different mental challenge!


Weeds aside, this was a nice race. While most of my race report sounds negative, I did have fun, and I certainly have *lots* of room for improvement!