2010 Presque Isle Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This was the first let down of the day. Last year I just showed up and swam it in 15:44. This year I spent a bunch of time in the pool and could comfortably swim the distance in 1:45/100 but blew it on race day. I forgot to spot and kept finding myself all alone way off course. I also noticed that my stroke kept shortening.

Remember to spot! Practice open water swimming so that I don't freeze up or lose my stroke rhythm.

Besides getting stuck in my shirt it wasn't too bad. I've never worn clipless shoes before so it took me a while to get clipped in after the start of the ride. Bonus points for a flying mount though....

wear a tri shirt for the swim or go shirtless

I settled in on a cadence and pace that seemed easy (20mph). In hindsight, it was too easy. I could have picked it up by at least 1mph. I did notice some tightness in my calves and hamstrings from going clipless.

push a little harder. Practice more with clipless.

I tried to be super cool and ride with my feet on top of my shoes coming into transition. But, in the process of loosening my right shoe it came unclipped. So I had to come to a complete stop to dismount and then drag my leg as I ran so the shoe wouldn't come off.

Practice clipless.

This is where my race ended. I crashed and ended up walking 3 times. Once for nausea and twice for a side stitch. Again, a huge disappointment as I did a practice run the other day at 7:05/miles.

Hydrate the day before and day of.

Drank 4 cups of water, 4 cups of gatorade at a bannana a bagel some pizza and 3 packages of peanut butter crackers.


I missed my goal time by 5 minutes. In hindsight, I think that I was quite dehydrated. I had a migraine the rest of the day and despite drinking about 64oz of liquid in the hours after the race didn't use the restroom until around 3pm. On top of that, it still hurts to breathe 48 hours later. Lesson learned. I beat last year's time by about 40 seconds but based on the amount of effort that I put in this year over last year I'm a bit disappointed.


Tons of volunteers on all parts of the course. They did a great job.