Indianapolis Sprint Triathlon Series #3 - TriathlonSprint

I started out the swim ok and started to pass a few people, but I couldn't get a good feel for my pace. I knew I should be going faster than I was but I didn't want to burn up on the swim. I could see the turn buoy pretty much the whole way out to the first turn and the second. There wasn't a whole lot of traffic around me which kind of made me nervous, but I knew I was pretty much on course. On the swim back to shore I couldn't spot the finish so I relied on the other swimmers around me which might have slowed me down.

I need to trust my sighting more and keep my head down. I think I was pretty slow because I kept lift up to see that I was pretty much still on course. I need to keep the head down and practice bilateral breathing. I also need to practice pushing my stroke rate as I know I'm way too slow right now.

I need to run faster to my bike and then get into my socks and shoes faster. I know I can do this faster, but I have to practice. I did trust myself that I grabbed everything this time and I think that helped improve my time.

Run faster to the bike and have the shoes unbuckled and ready to slip in.

I really wanted to kill this bike course, but I wasn't able to climb the hills like I wanted to. I needed to change gears a lot faster and I got lazy on the downhills. I was in my largest gear about 80% of the time but I was pretty inefficient. I took it easy around the one 90 degree turn but picked up speed again pretty quickly. I wasn't able to corner like I wanted to because of traffic on the course.

I need to seed myself faster on the swim even if I can't improve my swim speed. No one passed me on the bike course so it was hard to find a rabbit to chase down. I need to look ahead more when I get close to curves. Too many times I wanted to take a turn aggressively but I didn't want to cut off another rider so I had to slam on the brakes to avoid them and then pass after the turn. I also need to be more agressive on the hills. I avoid standing, but sometimes that is the best option. I need to work on spinning fast on the uphills in a higher gear while standing to improve my speed.

Ran past my bike rack. First time I have ever done that, and couldn't believe I went past. I also messed with trying to put my Garmin on while in transition. I would have cut 30 seconds off my time if I didn't miss the rack and if I would have just put the watch on while running.

Practice this transition with putting the watch on while running.

This was another suffer fest. I was doing my best out of transition to try and take it easy and not go out too hard. This was a mistake because I was going too easy. I am in better shape after starting this half mary training program. I should have pushed harder coming out of transition and then tried to improve pace over the course. After the half way point I realized that I felt crappy going fast and crappy going slow so I might as well go fast. I ran the second half much faster. I still had some left in the tank. The biggest struggle for me on the run was to get my breathing under control. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath the entire run.

I need to get my legs under me faster. My training needs to take on a whole new level this winter. I need to have a run focus and get my three mile training runs at a sub 7:30 pace. Bricks are going to be an integral part of my winter training. I need to work on controlling my breathing during the run.

Walked around with the family and enjoyed the playground at the park. I wanted to run or walk around more, but the kids wanted to play so I just paced around a lot.


I need to improve my swim stroke rate. I know I can be faster, but I haven't trained at that intensity. Although slowly, I am improving my run. If I can get faster at my run then I think my other areas will improve as well because I won't feel like I have to save myself for the run, but rather feel that I can go all out for a sprint.


I really am impressed with how Tuxbro runs their races. They have a lot of volunteers and they seemed pretty well organized. I do think they need to take their numbering a little more seriously. If someone is supposed to start 188th, then they should be the 188th in the water. The number system is a joke. Someone got in front of me with a 400 number and the organizers didn't care. Also, the post race activities could use some improvement. There are a lot of families there and it would be great to have a few bounce houses or more food vendors available. Tuxbro could also invest some money in a new timing system. They are slow posting results and when they do they only print one copy and people flock to the board. The results on the web site don't allow you to sort the results or print your individual results. They need to improve on this. I will be back to do all three races here next year, but I hope they make some improvements.