South Carroll Tri-to-Win Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Had a good swim. Lapped the person that was swimming in the lane with me three times.

Put in a faster seed time. I entered into the 9:00 range because that is what I figured I should be at for pacing, etc. I did not want to hold up anyone faster than me.

Transition was up a hill from the pool and I was more worked up from the swim than I thought I would be. I think it was more of anxiety than anything else because I am finally doing this. Wore tri shorts for the swim so all I needed to do was put on shirt, helmet, sunglasses, and bike shoes. I chose not to leave the shoes clipped on the bike because I did not feel confident with that. Grass was dry so the cleats stayed clean, and I had no problems mounting and clipping.

I wore a compression shirt and it was very challenging to get on after the swim. Not sure if I should just swim with it or not, but putting it on wet sucks.

I had rode the course once before in a group ride so I knew what to expect. I took 2 minutes off of my group ride time. I brought a Gu gel packet to eat at mile seven, but that was harder than I thought it would be. Now I have to clean Gu off of my handlebars. Bike went well for me considering it was my weakest area. I only passed, and never got passed so I knew that I was making progress.

I brought two water bottles just in case, but only needed one. The Gu gel on the bike was complicated and messy so I will need to find something better. I do think the Gu helped though.

As soon as I got off of the bike and started running my right calf locked up with a bad cramp. I eased off and tried to stretch it as I walked/jogged into transition. Bike shoes off and running shoes on no problem. Number was on a race belt so that clipped on fast. Other than the cramp, I can not think of what went wrong here.

After transition my calves cramped up again and within 100 yards of the timing pad I was stretching it out on a tree. My legs were wobbly and I did not know what pace to run. It took me a good mile or so to really get into the running portion. Once I was in my pace I started to stretch out and pass people, but I was not putting in my best effort in the strat of the run for fear of cramping up again.

PRACTICE USING BRICK WORKOUTS! I need to make time to do these, period, end of sentence.

Lots of stretching and hydration.


I really think I did all I can do for this tri. I now know that I have to work on transitions and going from bike legs to run legs. Overall I am very happy with my performance at my first tri.


This was my first tri so I really have nothing to compare it to, but I have done a lot of running events and this was very good compared to them.