Tri-Shark Classic Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

As soon as I hit the water it was like I couldn't catch my breath. Even when I turned my head to the side while swimming I couldn't catch my breath. It was like the water temperature and adrenaline took my breath away. Hadn't even made it to the first buoy yet and the next swim wave had already caught up with me. Was very dissapointed in my swim today.

Think I should have gotten in the water ahead of time and swam a little bit to get aclimated to the water. Did that last year at Petersburg and had a great open water swim. Definetly need more experience swimming in open water and not just in the pool.

Had a little bit of trouble finding my bike in the racks among all the other bikes. Tons of people in the second swim wave and bikes were really close together. Was also out of breath and tired after difficult swim.

Maybe set up my transition farther back where there is more room or rack my bike the night before and pick a spot on the outside of the bike rack to find my stuff easier.

Made a rookie mistake at the beginning of the course. Was taking a drink from one of my water bottles and dropped my water bottle on the road. Had to go back and get it. Also for the first 6-8 miles of the ride was out of breath because of the difficult swim.

Try to have a better swim and not expend so much energy on the swim.

Horrible transition. Spent at least two minutes trying to find area where I was supposed to rack my bike. Finally found my transition, racked my bike, sat down to put running shoes on and got cramp in abdominal muscle. To make matters worse went to put on my tri belt with number on it and the strap for my belt came undone. Spent at least another minute fixing my tri belt.

Again probably rack my bike the night before on the outside of a rack and definetly check my tri belt beforehand next time.

The only positive part of todays race. Actually felt really good for most of the run. Ran the first mile in 9:00. Mile 2 was around 9:30. Mile 3 went quite a bit slower but still felt pretty good.

Absolutely nothing on the run except try to run faster.

A bad swim, bad transitions, a dropped water bottle, and tri belt that came undone.


Very good race. Well organized, well marked, on time, lots of volunteers, good course. Definetly a learning experience for me today. Probably my worst race performance to date but definetly learned some things today. I will do this race again next year and improve.