Miami University Student Foundation Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

The swim was an 8 lap serpentine swim with a time trial start. I was able to do 2 flip turns during the 7 turns. The lanes were pretty fluid, which meant people seeded themselves well, which was nice. On the 3rd length I passes a guy doing backstroke. This was weird, but whatever gets the jog done, I guess. About halfway through the turns started getting bogged down. One time coming of the wall I took a punch to the ribs and got dunked. My goggles filled up with water and I had to slow down and fix them. I now know why people say that the swim is a contact sport. Other than that, the swim went well. I honestly didn't push hard in the swim until the last 100, I just got into a cruise mode and went with it. I figured that it would be useful to consume as much energy as possible in the water.

I would probably seed myself with a faster swim time. Although I didn't get passed by many people I think that I swam at a slower pace with the people around me.

Came into T1 fast. I didn't fry off very well and had some trouble getting by shirt and jacket on. THis slowed me down quite a bit. I had my shoes rubber banded on the bike and ran past all of the people who were stopped and slowly mounting their bikes. I did a flying mount and was off. As soon as I got on the bike and started getting my feet in my shoes I relized that the strap on my right shoe had come completely out of the shoe. I had to stop

As soon as I got on the bike and started getting my feet in my shoes I realized that the strap on my right shoe had come completely out of the shoe. I had to stop and re thread the strap in my shoe. This got me pretyt frustrated and added some time, but wasn't too big of a deal. I fixed it and was off. I started on the bike too fast. I was overly excited. FOr the first mile or so I was pulling in speeds near 26mph. THe biggest struggle was the hills. Since I had already been pushing so hard my legs were hurting going into the hills, and I slowed down dramatically. I got passed on a few ascets, but made up for it coming back down. My top speed fast 42.4MPH, I was flying by people. The last half of the course seemed like it was all uphill, but I stayed steady. One of the cool things so far this year is that I haven't yet been successfully passed on the bike. Pretty cool...I'm sure it will change, but it's cool to say that now.

Start off more conservatively so that I could attack the hills better. I can hold a much faster pace than this. I was shooting for a 22MPH pace.

I had to stop and get off the bike since I'm not very comfortable with a flying dismount yet. There was no one at the dismount line when I got there which was nice! I jumped of the bike, my legs were still in bike mode, and I almost fell over and ran the bike into a come :) haha. Ran straight to my section in T2. It took me a few seconds to hang my bike up because the guy next to me had a bucket that was straight in my way, but I finally got it put up. I decided to go no socks, which worked out fine. THe insoles in m shoes were a little out of wack after jamming my feet in, but I just went with it. Ripped of my jacket and shirt and was off.

I need work on the flying dismount, other than that I was very happy with this transition.

First mile was pretty slow, probably around an 8:00 mile, TOO slow. After that I picked it up. I wasn't really hurting, which means I wasn't moving fast enough. Just before the turn around I saw a guy who I had been going back and forth with all day (jbarwick). I picked up the pace, I wanted to pass him badly. It almost seemed like the race was just between him and me...and he was winning. I turned it on and went. I passed tons of people on the run, and wasn't passed once, which felt really great.

GO harder. My running needs a lot of work, especially speed. This is going to be a mjor point of focus from here on out.

It was my first time, so I would say lack of race knowledge held me back. After finishing my first race I know what my strengths and weaknesses are and will improve. It feels so good to race, and to call myself a TRIATHLETE officially!

The post race doughnuts were amazing.


I'm glad I chose this race as my first. It wasn't too hard or too long. Now that I've got my feet wet I'm excited of what's too come.