"My First Tri" Triathlon - TriathlonMini Sprint

The swim was a little different than what I had trained for. Each wave started on the beach with toes out of the water. On the horn I knew I wasn't a contender to win anything so I paused for half a second and let everyone in my wave takeoff. I was able to run out about 10 meters before the bottom really dropped off. Swimming out I started to see people tire and at one point moved over a little because my hands were hitting the guy in front of me's feet. At this point we were about 15 meters to the bouy and my goggles were holding up nicely. The guy to the left of me kept swimming front stroke then flipping over to back stroke really chopping up the water. I was starting to feel some muscle tightness in my quads so I switched to a breast stroke for a few seconds to stretch. Coming up on the bouy I cut it on the guy to the left to pass since it was very aggravating swimming beside him. Rounding the bouy and looking up, the path to the feathers was clear now that the pack had spread out. As I'm coming up on the last 35 or so meters I hear the next wave take off and feel the bottom with my toes. At this point I take off high stepping the the beach. Once to the beach I did a semi-jog to the first water station and splashed it on my face and chest.

Practice more on my breathing. I had never practiced with a cap and goggles on before and in salt water. Really need to look into getting a swim coach if I want to pursue this more.

I stayed in the same pair of shorts the whole time but since this was my first transition ever so I made sure I went a little slower not to screw anything up that would get me disqualified. I pulled my goggles and cap off coming into the TA looking for my bike. Placed goggles and cap on the ground and grabbed my towel to dry my face and chest some. Put my heart monitor on. Threw my short on. Sat down and dried my feet off. Put my socks and shoes on. Off course I hadn't untied my shoes previously so I had to do that. Stood up and chugged some Gatorade. Wiped my head with the towel once more and then attempted to put my helmet on but it was too loose since I usually ride with hat under my helmet. So after adjusting my helmet, I put it on. Chugged another Gatorade G1. Set my watch to Bike and went into the setting to make it rescan for the heart monitor. Off I went jogging out of the TA trying to remember not jump on my bike yet.

Next time set the watch to Bike and pair the heart monitor up to the watch the take the monitor back off. Have shoes untied and pulled open. Make sure helmet is adjusted correctly.

Of course I never practiced in a situation like this so all the training I had was spin class twice a week. Coming out of the TA into the straight away I remember to start my watch.I hit a few turns and something feels weird. I pass the credit union and start up the hill when it dawns on me that my seat is all the way at the bottom. I pull off to the side, loosen the quick adjuster and pull the seat up a good distance. It still wasn't enough but it was far more comfortable than it was. At this point I jump up into a jog to get back up to speed. By now the adrenaline from the race is wearing off and I'm thinking about my breathing. I've cycled the gears a few times and now I'm coming up to the big hill. I'm in gear 18 and down shift to 12 to ascend the hill. About 1/3 of the way up the hill I'm starting to tire so I shift down to about 8 but it's far too easy and I'm not going anywhere. I try shifting back up to 12 and at that point I hear a pop from the rear. Damn derailer jammed in gear 11. Luckily it's a good gear for now. Once I'm almost to the top of the hill I move the shifter back an forth a few times but it's not moving. I blow it off so it doesn't screw up my ride. Finally I'm at the top of the hill and I think everyone, even the last wave, has passed me by now. Suddenly the gear shifts into 12 by itself. Now the decent. I really need a break but I shift up to 18 and pedal hard to build up some speed so I can coast on the downhill. At this point I'm cruising good and make it up a small hill shifting down to 12 since all I have now is the front shifter. I'm feeling pretty good and ride the rest of the way in to the TA making sure I don't dismount to early or too late. I press lap on my watch and head into the TA.

Start my watch when I leave the TA on time. Make sure my seat is adjusted to the right height. Really wish I had a road bike and a bike that wasn't so old. Maybe wear a Camelbak or bring a water bottle to drink during the ride.

Coming into the TA I start hunting down my rack and stuff. I find my rack and the guy next to me racked his bike in my area so I have to move his bike over so I can rack my bike. I rack my bike. Pull my helmet off. Unstrap my watch from the handle bars and put it on my arm. Set it to run. Grabbed my towel and wiped my face off one last time. Grabbed a small Gatorade to drink on my run and my wife is there to take a photo. Pause for a millisecond for a photo and jog out of the TA.

Nothing really. The whole transition was good as expected.

Coming out of the TA I was tired but motivated. I started my watch as I crossed the time box and monitored my heart rate. I had it set to beep if I went of 189 beats per minute and to beep every half mile. I started out chugging some of my Gatorade to try and cool down. People were coming in on their run and cheering me on as the were coming in. Really gives you a morale booster when you've still got 2.5 miles to run seeing all these people coming in. I did a typical run/walk as much as I could visually pick a spot on the side of the road to run to. At the half way mark I grabbed a cup of water and discarded my empty Gatorade bottle. Continued my run/walk sequence up until the last 50 to 75 yards where I sprinted out to the finish line.

Train more running at a faster pace.

After the race you come in and they put a medal on your neck. I walk through to the fence and lean over to catch my breath.


Having the wrong type bike and then my bike having a mechanical issue in the middle. I didn't train long enough on running at a faster pace. My weight had the most to do with everything. Weighing in on race day at 281 pounds is a lot of weight to move.


I have to say the only snafu was getting on the base. Because my wife and my parents weren't with me, they had a lot of trouble getting on base and they wouldn't let my parents on because they didn't have a pass or a military ID. The awards were plentiful and I like how they just threw swag out into the crowd.

All and all I think I did pretty well. I started training for this event in February. My original goal was to just finish but as time starting getting closer I made a goal to not only finish but finish in less than 1.5 hours which I did by 36 seconds. I was pleased to see the official results that I came in 125 place when on the papers I was the 266th person to cross the line.