Lake Mills Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I knew the swim was my strong suit... and even though I did well - I really didn't push myself - just an even pace all the way through. Clearly could have swam much farther or somewhat faster. Did more walking instead of jogging on the way to the timing mat/T1 - could have sped up on that bit I'm sure. Felt good to catch a couple swimmers in the wave ahead of me (the elite and tag-team folks) before I got out of the water!

Put foggle on the goggles. Wait - I did that on Saturday. Not sure - maybe work on less sweaty eyes or something? heh. Really - in hindsight I could have pushed quite a bit harder on the swim... HR felt pretty low/OK at the end and had no effect on my bike ride at all.

Hadn't planned to do my first tri until July... so until this event I hadn't practiced putting on/taking off my wetsuit or any transition stuff. Felt I went pretty slow through T1. Got a nice compliment from the dude next to me on my swim though. Struggled a bit pulling on/zipping my bike-shirt which had my race-number pinned to it. Never even tried on that shirt before - definitely not with a wet body... nice shirt, yet the sleeves were tighter than I expected. Entered T1 in second place in my mens novice "AG"... left in 3rd (the guy that was a faster swimmer than me left after me - so got lapped in T1 by 2 guys!?).

You know - maybe practice transitions? heh. And use a shirt that I don't have to fumble with the zipper.

Nice pretty flat course. If I'd taken a ride on it before there are a couple corners I likely would have pushed a bit faster. Got my shoes clicked in pretty fast - might consider starting with the shoes on the pedals - practice, practice! A bit confused as the guy in front of me stopped and looked like he was turning around - turns out he had a bit of a bike problem yet he kept moving. Took some water out of the shoot, found a nice cadence around 90 and kept it going. Passed a few folks (I was in wave 2 - and quickly caught up and passed the two guys in my wave in front of me, and a few of the elite wave/tag team bikers as well). Had a swig of EFS liquid shot maybe 10 minutes in with more water... did pretty good with the water through the whole thing. Right at the end had another small swallow of liquid shot, finished off my 2nd bottle of water, and coasted down hill into T2. The ride felt like a training run - after I'd passed the first few folks, I was riding by myself most of the time... one guy in my wave passed me about 2/3 of the way through. Ended up with the 4th fastest bike time in my wave/group... that plus my strong swim was good enough to get me to T2 in second place in my mens novice "AG"... and even with my slow T2 I started my run in 2nd place in my group. Cool.

No steep hills on the course - yet on one of them I dropped down to 12mph as I came out of my bars and downshifted... wow - that wind is nasty when sitting upright. Pretty happy with my ride - yet with more training I have no doubt I can improve quite a bit.

Coasted down hill to the gate - unclicked my shoes on the way - stopped the bike and dismounted, started running and almost threw a shoe. Not all so graceful. Got to my spot (which was close for us novice folks - nice!). Bike on the rack quickly, shoes off pretty OK, helmet off quickly. Sat down to pull on my running shoes and felt the edge of a cramp in my calf. Stood up and put my shoes on, and walked 2/3 of the way to the exit & jogged the rest... no sign of the cramp so chugged a glass of water and started jogging.

Yea - just like T1... practice, practice, and maybe just try it ONCE before the event. :-)

Made it past the crowd, up the hill and a couple hundred yards more... just after the first guy passed me felt like I needed a breather. Took maybe 2-3 more walk breaks in the first 1 or so miles. Then kept a decent pace to the mid point, stopped, grabbed another glass of agua and kept the feet moving to the 2 mile point. From there I think I only took one more walk break. Got near the end and almost took another yet heard the crowd cheering on others down the hill... no more walking - actually kicked up my pace pretty well down the hill and especially the rest of the way to the finish as random people in the crowd were cheering and I didn't want that person I could hear behind me to pass me at the very end. Completed my first ever triathlon! Sweet!

Learn how to run. And work on my perseverance - in hindsight (like in the 5K I ran a few weeks back) my legs felt ok, my lungs didn't seem to like me so much, yet I'm not exactly sure why that need to slow down and take walk breaks was so compelling and alluring. Two or three times runners coming the other way provided encouragement - which was great!

Chugged the bottle of water that some very nice person (and I fully mean that!) shoved in my face as the other nice dude took the chip off my ankle. Walked around through the crowd of strangers looking for anyone I knew... I think that was 2 people out of the hundreds of people there... didn't find them - surprise. Had the couple orange wedges and 3/4 of the breakfast burrito... and the 1/2 a banana. Another bottle or 2 of water. Then did a few yoga poses/stretches - man did THAT feel good!


T1, T2, Run. Was good to practice the transitions - probably should have done that before race day though. Although since my first race was "supposed" to be a month away, I really looked at this as a practice event... and very happy with how I performed. I guess more practice and training on the run... yet maybe that's an area where a personal trainer or coach might help me improve more rapidly!?!!!


Great location, nice people, plenty of volunteers, decent food. Few waves on the lake, pretty flat bike ride, and very flat and beautiful running path. And a nice warm sunny June day in Wisconsin... sweet!

My goal was to complete a sprint tri (namely the Pewaukee event in July) in less that 1 1/2 hours. Didn't guess I'd beat that goal at this event! Although maybe the fact that the course was very flat and my swim wave was only 33 folks (so no jostling around to speak of) helped... hopefully I can hit 1 hour 30 minutes again in a month at Pewaukee. At any rate - I honestly just wanted to finish this one.

After reviewing my results in the novice group (which in my opinion weren't all so novice - one guy I spoke with from my wave had completed over 20 sprints and an oly - and will run a HIM in 2 weeks) I find that until the run I was consistently in the top 4 (even with my slow transitions) - after T2 and as I began my run I was actually in 2nd place in the mens novice group! Sweet!!!