Laguna Phuket Triathlon - TriathlonOther

Went way too fast at first and started to panic. Then told myself to find slow down and find my pace. That worked wonders. Single-sided breathing and only occasional sighting meant I kept drifting to the right. Water temperature was perfect; no chop; beautifully clear. Cornered the bouys pretty well. Stumbled coming out of the ocean -- felt like I had just put my head on a baseball bat, spun around a few times and tried to run. Disoriented and exhausted, but I had caught up to the slower swimmers from the first wave. Lagoon water was green and murky, not nearly as nice as the ocean. The fastest swimmers of the third wave caught up to me here, so I tried to follow their line. That helped.

Bilateral breathing and more frequent sighting. Better pacing at the outset.

I guess I took my time here. I was tired and not able to run as fast to or with the bike as I had hoped. Drinking, putting on my HRM, socks, shoes, jersey, etc took time.

Better gear: wear a tri suit with a heart rate strap underneat; sockless and clipless shoes; etc.

Felt good on the bike, although I also felt like a complete noob because I didn't have clipless shoes (or even clips). That concern quickly disappeared when I started passing people left and right, espcially on the hills when so many people were forced to walk their bikes. (One woman from the wave behind me even commented at around kilometer 35 "you're doing great in those shoes!") Swapped out my water bottles for the 100 Plus they passed out at the aid stations -- that was a gift from the heavens! I felt my energy start to drain on the long, straight, flat and not very pretty highway section near the end. I also slowed down a few times after seeing a few wipeouts and realizing I didn't want to end up in that boat. Overall I am very happy with my performance and I was very happy to have the proper gear ration to tackle the steep hills.

Clipless shoes. Fill one water bottle with Gatorade from the start. Ride the course a few days before to get a feel for it and know where the speed bumps are. Have practiced cornering.

Stopped fully, dismounted, and walked quickly to rack my bike. Changed from a jersey to a running shirt.

Run faster. Have practiced flying dismount. Wear tri suit.

My knee started to go at kilometer 9. I had wanted to finish strong, but it was all I could do to keep running and not walk those last 3k. Thank goodness for those huge, ice cold sponges. At the start of the run, I pushed myself too hard. I had to force myself to slow down at various points during the run after recognizing that I was having trouble sustaining pace and seeing how high my HR was.

Not heel strike. Smile for the cameras. Pace myself better and go for a negative split. More training bricks. Finish strong.

Walk around; sip water; massage.


Knee injury; lack of OWS experience; gear, to some extent.


My first tri and a fantastic introduction to the sport. Hit my goal time of under 4h. Surprised myself by being solid MOP and doing so well on the run (relative to the rest of the pack). Great race support, well organized, an interesting course, and a very highly recommended race overall. I hope to do it and/or the 70.3 race, which takes place the week after (or both) every year that I am in Asia.