Nautica South Beach Triathlon - Classic Distance - TriathlonOther

Hardest event for me. First time open ocean swimming. 3 minutes slower than goal time. Probably swam more than I wanted because swimmer next to me was zig-zagging the swim and I couldn't get past him without getting pushed further out or to far towards the beach.

Push through. No stopping to wait for others. The last half of the swim was good and comfortable...freestyle the whole way with some good drafting.

No wetsuit. Tri top is a little loose and dragged a bit during the swim. Kept the transition simple: sunglass on, helmet on and strapped in, put GU chomps, CO2 and spare tube in shirt, unhook bike and run. HR jacked from the swim, took an extra minute to calm down. First time jumping on bike, no issues.

Take extra rubber bands. One broke while setting up transition, so one shoe dragged during run. Not a big deal but annoying. Leave shirt at transition pre loaded and swim without the top. Push through without taking the minute to rest.

Should've attacked the hills harder. Cramped (hamstrings) around 16.5 miles though, probably due to lack of hydration. Kept cranking and it hurt, cramped hamstrings remained and quads cramped as soon as I started running until 2 miles and my stride finally opened back up. Hit every water stop to hydrate. There were no water stops during the bike, had 3/4 bottle left at the end of the bike and finished that during transition to run. Goal was to finish under an hour and I did.

Drink more water prior/during bike.

Easy transition. Again, keep it simple stupid: rack bike, remove helmet, take out CO2/extra tube, put on running shoes and go.

Nothing.

Cramped for the first 2 miles. Pushed as much water as possible. Felt good during the last 2 miles. Great run though, used to run the boardwalk at least once a week when I lived in Miami. Figured I'd finish around 34 minutes and did.

Nothing.

Walked around a lot afterwards. Lots of water. Cold towel over the head/shoulders. Wish there was a massage station for my thighs.


Thigh cramping didn't help but I was where I thought I'd be overall based on my current level of training.


I say yes for plenty of drink stations...there were for the run; however, I thought there were supposed to be some during the bike. Not an issue, less than one bottle of water was used during the bike leg. This is a very well organized race, no confusion, excellent course (bike was fast and fun), I'd recommend this to anyone. Unfortunately, I don't have much opportunity to practice open ocean swimming otherwise I think I'd love that portion as well.