Naylor's Beach Aquabike - Aquabike

1st ever race. decided to go out at the same steady pace I thought I could swim the whole course. Also decided not to push too hard as in time trials my times were not that much faster when I pushed hard and suffered a lot compared to swimming at a steady brisk pace (relative term). Wish time could have been faster but I am just not that fast yet. I did start passing a few people at ~1000m mark while maintaining my same steady pace. While exiting, my inner thights cramped a little (left leg I think)

Given that my thighs cramped while exiting I don't think I should have pushed much harder given my fitness level at the time of the race. I don't think I would change much I just need more swim fitness. The field was a bit small and spred out so there were not a lot of opportunities for me to draft but looking for those opportunities is something I need to work at.

Slooowww! first timer mistakes? Also the transition area was grass with a ton of cut lose wet grass sticking to everything. Didn't slow down others though. I was worried it would affect my clip in as I put my bike shoes on in the transition area and jogged out. I forgot my CO2 pump in my pack. I realized it when I was getting ready for the swim start so at least I knew I had to fish it out of the bag when I got to transition.

dry runs, including getting out of wetsuit. clip my shoes onto bike before hand ands practice getting into them. I chose to drink some sports drink during the transition as I am not super comfortable pulling my bottle out while cruising along on the bike. I usually slow down a bit when I do pull out my drink bottle.

My game plan for this my 1st ever race was to go out at a steady hard but not too hard pace for the 1st 12 mi. At 10.5 mi I eat a gel pack and drank from my bottle. Once beyond 12 mi I picked up the intensity a bit. At about 20mi my right calf started to feal like it was about to cramp and I had to focus on pushing my right heel down to keep it from cramping. This definitely slowed down my last 5mi a bit. When I dimounted at the finish both hamstrings cramped up a bit and I had to hobble across the mats. I think I did quite well on the hills. Passed a lot of people on the hills, including one fairly strong looking cyclist who passed me and pulled away from me once we were past the last big hill. i think if I had not had issue with my calf I might have been able to maintain contact with him. Definitetly would not have beat him but may have mainteined contact.

Again given that I was completely cramping up at the finish maybe I could not have pushed too much harder. having said that I think maybe I could have upped the 1st 12mi intensity just a bit. As with the swim need more training volume and bike fitness.

Not much. just streatching ate some cookies water, poweraide one I found it and bagle an coffee


Fitness, also lack of prep for the transition. That experience was however one of the main points/goals of this my first ever multi-sport event.


Great experience. Looking forward to doing more