Tri-It Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I knew I wasn't going to have a great swim time regardless. So I started in the back (I think I literally was the last in my wave) so as not to get run over with the slower pace that I'd have to swim.

Race started and I started to swim. Put my face in the water and....nothing. I couldn't breathe out. So I had to breathe out AND in on my breathing stroke. Needless to say, that was pretty much impossible, so I swam the whole way with the heads up. I NEVER swim like that so I had no idea of pacing with that stroke and whatnot. Just a terrible swim. I actually had to grab the life guard long board for about 30 seconds on the last leg. I COULD have made it, but the mental toughness just wasn't there so I gave in and grabbed on. Of all the things with this race, that and not being able to breathe out under water are the most disappointing.

Train longer/harder/more. I have no explanation for not being able to breathe out. Murky water doesn't bother me and I had not issue with proper breath technique at this same race last year.

I expected this to be better. I wasn't wearing a wetsuit, so that wouldn't slow me down. I was much more winded from the swim than I expected (due to the altered swim stroke that I needed). So I guess I just generally moved slower than I thought I did. Everything was nice and organized, so that was smooth, just the pace was off.

Move faster.

This was pretty much what I expected. Thank goodness the course was flat or I cringe to think what my time would have been. Started off and had to catch my breath still from the swim. However, I was good by the first mile with regard to that. My goal was to finish is less than 40 min (15mph pace) and I met that, so I'm happy. I even passed someone!!!

Drink less water. I didn't have a whole lot but I felt full when the run started. Being able to put in proper training would take care of this leg (see below for more on this).

Other than running down the wrong aisle which cost me time, I did just fine in my opinion.

Really nothing other than to get the right aisle when coming back. Picking the wrong aisle frustrated me since there's no excuse for that.

This was "fun"!!! Legs felt like the mob had cemented them into a block and thrown me off a pier. So I walked/jogged a good part of the first half mile. Then I would do a run/walk cycle and play mental games. At this point I just tried to monitor the remaining energy (which there wasn't much of). Gave it everything I had in the last bit. I left everything out on the course, so I was happy about that. All things considered, my terrible 12-ish min/mile wasn't half bad.

Wear my Bacardi visor instead of my hat. I like the irony of it :-)

Being able to put more time into training would help with run performance and getting through the brick legs at the beginning.

Bent over and just breathed. I felt like I was going to throw up from the exertion so I knew this would help. After the queasiness passed, I laid on my back and caught my breath a bit before my wife and I checked our times on the board.


Not being able to train.


Earlier this year, I had a condition pop up that made me really susceptible to fatigue. This made training pretty much impossible since I would be spent after 5 minutes. I finally was able to get on the medication about 3.5 weeks before the race. So with 3 weeks to go I started training. My focus was the swim, since in my opinion, that was the only place I had a shot at dieing. So I spent 2.5 weeks in the pool. I'd gained enough confidence (doing 500 yards in 12 minutes with no stopping) that I felt I could do the race. I knew the bike and run would be a struggle, but I didn't care. I would have fared much better if I could have breathed out with my face in the water. But oh well, challenges present themselves in any race. I got through it. My time sucked, but just finishing considering the short training time was good enough for me.