Chain of Lakes Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Should not have tried to flip turn on the first wall turn. I forgot to move left in the lane and flipped right into the on-coming swimmer. Oops! Then he decided to pass only to not be able to maintain his pace and I passed him again later. That was irritating because I probably could have gone faster had he just let me warm-up a little bit.

Not flip turn and wait longer before starting.

I stupidly decided I needed my second towel when I was at the transition area so decided I HAD to dig it out of my bag. Brilliant! Then my bib number tore because I didn't have a belt I had it pinned to my shirt. That was stupid. Poked myself with the safety pins a few times in the process of re-attaching it.

Get a tri-belt and have the second towel out just in case.

I could not get my legs to spin. Try as I might, I was just pumping squares the whole time. Not to mention my legs didn't really warm up until 2/3 of the way through the ride. I was at mile 7.5 rounding a corner when my legs finally decided to release, then I picked up speed and passed four or five people.

I would definitely warm up more before the swimming portion of the race on the bike so that my legs were ready to go for this portion. That was aggravating.

This seemed to take an exorbitant amount of time! I could not get out of the transition area. I don't know what my problem was. Seriously, I got my shoes on, then took off my jacket but the whole process was just painful to do. Not physically, but mentally, I was in jell-o the whole time.

Run barefoot. I don't know it really wasn't that bad I just felt slow.

Serious dead leg feeling to start but I settled in and was only passed by two guys.

Umm...I don't know. Really, I don't know if I could have done anything differently on this portion.

Walking, eating, and did my usual post workout stretch. I felt good and not too spent by the end of the warm-down.


I think I was afraid I was going to bonk at some point. I really did. There were times in which I thought about pushing harder but I didn't because I didn't know how much more I was going to need at the end. Now that I know the extent of my physical needs I would be able to do it faster.


Overall, it was a good race. There were definitely things I would have liked to see done differently but some were beyond the organizers control. The lack of water stations on the run was frustrating, yet offset by the immense amount of volunteers staffing the corners. Every corner had a staff member directing racers on the direction they should take to continue. In some ways it was not needed but it was nice to see.