BRATS Salute To The Military Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I had estimated a swim time of 6 minutes. The swim got pretty packed in about halfway through my swim. At one point I was stacked up behind 3 swimmers at the wall at about the 150m mark. I also was passed by 2 swimmers. I was most nervous about the swim (like many folks who do tris) but it seemed like the time flew by, and I was out of the pool and on my way to T1.

More swimming practice. I only started swimming consistently 2 months ago. Not sure what I could have done differenly in the actual race. I felt I was seeded properly, although as I was watching the first 60 swimmers go off it was apparent some may have overestimated their swim, or maybe they were just having a bad day. Who knows.

T1 was an "experience" to say the least. I knew I was moving slow but was somewhat suprised to see the time. No issues in T1 per se, just me moving slow.

Where do I begin? Practice transitions, move with a sense of purpose, on and on. T1 was ugly but there's a lot of room fro improvement :-)

Bike was OK, but I was hoping for better performance. Overall it appeared as though the times were a little down from last year, maybe because of the 3 u-turns in the race this year. Back end of the course had some nice rolls in it. Got passed by a couple of people but I passed a couple as well. Need to look at getting more aero on the bike vs the Sunday ride style I tend to use.

Like the swim I need more training. Only started riding 2 months ago and only once a week. More focused workouts and rides.

T2 was better than T1, but still slow. This will improve with practice and more racing.

Everything practically. Even getting off the bike was slow. Practice Practice Practice.

The run was a disaster. The wheels came off on this leg of the event. Had to walk a few stretches.

Clearly more/longer bricks are in order, as well as longer runs in general. I was following the training plan in "The Idiot's Guide to Triathlons" (don't laugh - it's actually a good book :-))and the longest transition run they had as part of the training was 15 minutes. I could do this comfortably, but clearly was not enough for me personally.

Lack of training. Too much weight to carry around at 240lbs (I am 6'6" though)


For my first time doing a tri in about 18 years, I can't be too upset. I have alot of room for improvement and feel my next one will be much better. The event was very nice (although there was a bike rack missing in the transition area that created some confusion) and the volunteers were great. My family commented that I "looked great" at the end of the run. Clearly I had a some in the tank and I was dogging it at the end. Goal time going in was 1:30, and even though I missed the time, I still had a wonderful experience.