Chain of Lakes Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

There were 5 of us assigned to my lane and 3 of us started out really close. Passing was chaos and for the first 200m we were a total traffic jam. There was no room for flip turns since we were basically reaching the end of the lane at the same time in a cluster. After the first couple laps I was able to pull ahead of the pack and stay there, which allowed me to relax my pace a little, breath more steadily, and incorporate flip turns.

Better estimate my swim time & be more confident of placement. If I'd agreed to lead in our lane I would have been out in front the whole time and wouldn't have had to jockey for position. Bonus: it gave me a small taste of what an open-water swim might eventually be like.
Get a couple practice laps in the pool. The wall was hard to see & it repeatedly came up too fast for me to comfortably flip turn. Focus on breathing better. In the heightened excitement I hardly breathed bilaterally at all, falling back on my dominant right-side breathing.
Better anticipate the long wait between race start & my heat. I got hungry & had to beg additional snacks off my friend.

Shoes & socks went on pretty well, while standing, but balance was a little hard. I took the time to put my bike gloves on and I was glad I did even though it took extra time. It felt *cold* and I took the time to consider putting on a long-sleeve shirt, but didn't take the time to do it.

Put on a long-sleeve shirt when it's that cold. The first 1/2, if not more, of the bike was uncomfortably cold.
Practice T1 more.

I always find it hard to drink on the bike when I'm cold. Luckily I trained in cold, windy conditions, so this was an improvement. But being cold from the swim, combined with race excitement/anxiety, left me through most of the first mile before I thought about my water bottle. After that I improved, but still could have been more consistent. I was uncomfortably cold for the first mile & a half to 2 miles, but after that the sun came out and I had a lot of fun!
I was passed by several people in the first 1/2 mile, and 2 later on, but I passed a few as well.

Put a shirt over my trisuit if it's chilly. Push myself harder on the bike. Drink more water/sport drink.

I biked with my running shoes, so all that happened here was that I found my stall, racked my bike, removed helmet & gloves, took quick stock of my transition area to make sure I wasn't missing anything, and headed out on the run. Slid race number around as I ran.

Have a little more confidence that I don't need to do much in this transition. Just remove helmet and GO. Practice biking w/o gloves & decide if I can do without.

Everything felt pretty good, but I felt like I was barely moving even though my race pace was much better than in training. I couldn't find any water stations so I just kept going. I was passed by so many people I lost count, but I couldn't care beyond just noticing & laughing about it. I was having so much fun! I did pass 2 or 3 people towards the middle of the run. I took it really easy for first 5 minutes, then did fairly random pick-up intervals for the rest of the run. I would just pick a landmark (tree, building, etc) and pick up my pace until I reached it - if I still felt good I kept up the pace, then relaxed & recovered at a jog until I felt good again.

Pay more attention to where the water station/s were (I'm not sure what happened there). Push myself a little harder, but I'm pleased with my pace.

Walked around & stuffed food in my face. Banana, date & nut bar from home, water. Packed up transition area & loaded bike onto car. Stretched a little. Attended race awards. Headed to a restaurant and ate a big lunch: turkey sandwich, chicken noodle soup, 2 plates of salad & veggies & unsweetened ice tea. Food tasted awesome! 2.5 hr drive home.


Crowding in the pool. Aside from that, not much. I could have pushed a bit harder in places, but intentionally held myself to a steady, moderate pace to enjoy the experience & not max out. Now that I know more what to expect & how it feels, I will be able to push closer to my limits.


This was an incredible first race experience for me. I didn't like the long wait for my swim heat, and could have better used my time to stretch & mentally prepare, but I wanted to watch everything to see how things worked and enjoyed watching the other swimmers. I definitely want to do more races and have confidence that I will eventually train my way up to a longer distance.