Tri-It Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I started off in the first wave. Our wave of about 80 people spread out pretty good along the beach. I positioned myself to the left and tried to start closer to the rear. I'm a decent swimmer, but I'd rather catch people on the swim than overestimate my ability and get trampled. It was tough not to start out hard with the adrenaline and so many other people in the water seemingly giving it their all. As a day before decision, I decided to wear a wetsuit. I hadn't swam in it much at all, but thought the extra buoyancy would help. I swam pretty well out to the first buoy and didn't really encounter too much traffic. Got one kick rounding the buoy but it wasn't that hard and he quickly apologized, which was pretty cool. As I made that turn and started for the second marker, I realized how out of breath I was. I just couldn't get enough air in. Half way to the second buoy it hit me...I couldn't expand my lungs as much as I am used to because I wasn't used to swimming in a wetsuit. So not only was I using energy on propulsion, but I was also fighting the suit a little bit when taking a breath. I had to go to some backstroke to get a little more air, which was annoying. I didn't have any problems sighting which was good. Made it out of the water, but I was much more gassed than I expected to be. I ended up walking up the hill rather than jogging to the Transition.

Next time, I'd either swim without the suit or train a whole heck of a lot more in it. Also, get some open water swims in just to get more comfortable being in the middle of a body of water.

Moral of the story: Race the way you trained.

T1 went as well as could be expected given how gassed I was from the swim. I was slow and deliberate for everything because I was out of breath. Got the suit down to my ankles pretty quick, but had trouble with the foot the timing chip was on. I ended up sitting down to get it off. Cleaned my feet quickly and put on socks and shoes. I decided to ride in my running shoes so I wouldn't have to switch later. Then stood up and put on my shirt, glasses, and helmet. Grabbed my bike and walked out of transition.

I'd practiced T1 a couple of times and in practice things went well. In the future, I'd get myself more tired and then practice it. Also, I'd practice with something on my ankle that the wetsuit could get caught up on so I could get more proficient with that.

Also, in the future, I'd consider going without socks.

I spent the first 2 miles or so getting my wind back from the swim. This cut my speed down to around 12 mph average at the beginning. Finally, around mile 3, I was able to get things going a bit and greatly improved my speed. People weren't flying by me anymore (with only the occasional passer) and I actually passed 2 people. That made me feel really good and gave me a little bit of a boost. Nothing like a small victory to boost morale.

Nothing really. The bike portion went pretty well given the shape I was in after the swim. I'd done some training blocks where I went from swim to bike. Perhaps I'll swim harder to make sure I'm about as tired as I can be before hopping on the bike so that I can be prepared if that happens again.

If I stick with this, I'll maybe get aerobars for my road bike or pick up a tri-bike

I rode up to the dismount line, stopped and dismounted cleanly and then trotted my bike to my spot. Racked the bike, took off the helmet and glasses. Then I had some gu, swigged some water to wash it down and jogged out of the transition.

I would take the gu with me and wash it down with that cup of water they hand you as you leave T2. That would save a little bit of time.

I walked to the first turn to allow the blood to redistribute a bit after the biking portion. Then I started to jog and built up to a nice pace. I drank a little too much water on the bike portion because I could feel it sloshing around a little bit, which didn't help. My pace was pretty good with only a little bit of walking mixed in. On the way back in, I saw my wife going the other way, so we high fived and that was fun. As I came out of the woods, I started to expand my stride and pick up the pace. As I turned the corner for the home stretch, I broke into a sprint. No point in leaving anything left in the gas tank is what I told myself. Crossed the finish line to clapping and cowbells. That was a really cool experience. Let the lady take my timing chip and off I went to get the camera to take some pictures of my wife as she finished her run.

I would try to monitor my intake of liquids on the bike. This is something that I did pretty well in training, but in the race environment, didn't do so well. I didn't have so much water that I felt sick, but enough that it hurt my overall performance. However, I was pretty happy with my time since running is my weakest discipline. I was aiming for less than a 10 minute mile, which is what I'd accomplished.

I had my post race drink that I'd brought with me. I jogged to the car to grab the camera so that I could be back at the finish line to take pictures of my wife as she finished. Then I walked around a little and just checked things out.


Not being prepared to overcome how gassed I was during the swim. That really handicapped me from T1 through the early portions of the bike segment. If I was better prepared to recover or came out of the water with less of an oxygen deficit, then I think T1 would have gone more smoothly (and quickly) and I could have biked faster at the beginning which would have improved my time overall. Also, I think I held back a little bit on the bike and the early part of the run because I was trying to conserve energy so that I would have enough left for the finish. Turns out that I had plenty left that could have probably been used elsewhere. So experience managing a race will help that out.


First, I was disappointed that they didn't have enough Race Belts at packet pickup the day before. Fortunately they had restocked for race day, so I was able to use the race belt that I'd purchased.

The distances felt right and I thought it was a great course for a beginner that wants to try out this sport and see what it's like.

I have mixed emotions. I beat my goal of an hour and fifteen minutes (although I think I was secretly shooting for and hour and ten minutes). But I felt like I could have prepped better for the swim so that I wouldn't be so gassed (either train in a wetsuit or not wear it) which affected the next several minutes of the race. Overall it was a great first experience.