Finger Lakes Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

17th/309 females
This was a pretty poor swim. First of all, I was totally frozen before we even started. I was so cold, that when I finally went in I was shocked breathless by how cold I was. I've never been that miserable before a race.

I couldn't put my head under for the longest time so I swam heads-up freestyle for the first min or two. I think I was afraid of getting kicked. I just need to learn to start up front. I always assume that I'm the slowest one there. It's not true...

And I actually walked more than I care to admit. I was going at least as fast as the women around me, though. The water was choppy and I wasn't prepared for it. It was choppier than I think I've ever swam in. I didn't even seem to realize it was like that until well after I started. I had one bad gulp of the lake, but mostly just had to stop every so often, put my feet down and walk a few steps before starting again. When I got to the 1st buoy I tried putting my feet down and quickly realized it was too deep. A kayaker asked me if I was ok, so I must have looked a bit shocked when I went under. The toughest part of the swim was between buoys since I couldn't put my feet down. I really had to HTFU then. The swim back to shore I was able to relax a bit more since I was swimming with the waves. I sighted pretty well the whole time.

The long run to T1 was the best part. I passed a considerable amount of people on that one. My real swim time was exactly 14 min (I timed it).

Practice. Definitely more open water swims. I felt my lack of swimming practice in my real discomfort with the chop. I think that if the lake had been calm it would have been a much better experience. Plus I'd forgotten how to swim with a crazy group of people. I really need to get up front.

this was ok. I tried to just take it easy. I already had my suit down half way by the time I got to transition. I'm never good at getting the suit off. I always have to sit down to get it over my calves. But I didn't mind sitting. I was pretty winded. Shoes and helmet on went well. then ran through transition to bike mounting.

Learn to get suit off quicker.

42/309 female
My quads were ON FIRE at the beginning! I still can't quite figure out why. I must have been kicking a lot during the swim. I couldn't manage anything above 15.5 mph for awhile. I pushed as hard as I could the entire time. I finally eased into things, though. I'm not sure at what point, but I think with about 5 miles left I started to feel really good. The downhill was awesome. I passed a lot of people on that because I must be more of a daredevil I guess. I wasn't sure I was supposed to pass people on that hill, but how could you not?? Anyway, that part was a lot of fun. I took a gel with about 7 miles left. Maybe that was what helped me get some energy back. I ended the bike portion really strongly.

Bike more of course.

I was comparatively very slow here. Not sure how I could improve. I have to put socks on and tie shoes. Elastic laces would help. I think it took me longer than it should have to rack my bike. It kept wanting to fall over.

??? Just get faster.

9/309 female
I didn't feel so fast. This was brutal. I just kept trying to play mind games with myself, but there weren't a lot of people to pass or chase. I kept thinking "How can 3.1 miles be sooo LONG???" The part when you have to go to the end of the triangle median before you can turn left and go down the dead-end street I thought was the worst. Because I don't remember having to do that part before. It just made it seem longer. And now that the cutoff down the gravel path to the finish chute is sooner it makes that last part longer too, which sucked as well. All I know is I am damn glad I didn't do the Oly. I don't think the outcome would have been nearly as satisfying. Might have to do real Tri-training then!! :-)

Run longer distances more

Walked, drank water, and looked for family who missed the entire thing. they went to a spot I'd already passed to wait for me to go by. oops.


Need to combine real tri training with CF to go faster. Need to do more OWS and just get faster on the damn bike.


I love CrossFit training!! :-)