Twin Lakes Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

After every triathlon I tell myself to seed further up in the swim wave next time. I wasn't in the front, but I finally didn't start at the back! I felt strong the entire swim. The first half was pretty uneventful. After rounding the little island the sun was right in my eyes. I can see why people use tinted goggles! I did ok and never went off course, but I couldn't see much head on. There was a bit of contact during the swim, but nothing bad. I pushed for position when I could but never found a pair of feet to draft.

Since it felt great I thought I would have taken some time off my swim from last year but I was 8 seconds slower. Not a huge deal and I did feel great last year too. But I was a bit disappointed when I saw the results.

I had to take 5 weeks off swimming when I fractured my elbows, but I don't know how much it'd have made a difference if that wasn't the case. Generally I swim twice a week.

Not good but 24 seconds faster than last year haha. I felt slow. It was muddy and I made sure to use my water bottle to get the mud off my feet.

Practice transition? Race more maybe!

Oh the bike. Not much to say! I don't cycle much. Just not my thing. I cycled a bit leading up the this race. My first race going clipless. I was only 42 seconds faster than last year but this year's course was a bit different. Not sure if it was harder, easier or about the same. I tried to be careful on the tight turns and just did my best on the hills. I think I should have had more water on the bike. I usually take a gel but I didn't today.

Cycle more if I care to get faster/feel more comfortable.

This was 27 seconds slower than last year. But I had to go from bike shoes to running shoes today. I felt pretty good. I always just grab my visor and race belt and put them on while running.

Nothing.

This was 43 seconds faster than last year. Like during the 2010 race, my socks were pretty wet. I tried to dry my feet and lower legs off before the bike, but I guess I didn't do a great job. It didn't hinder my run, luckily. Set off on the run and probably should have grabbed some water from the volunteers at the run out area of transition. Should have taken my gel then. Felt a bit parched and my legs were pretty dead at the beginning of the run. I was thrilled that there was cloud cover. I never got overheated, though my breathing was pretty labored for most of the race. Realized once I had been running a minute or two that I never hit the lap button on my watch. When I came to the first water station I took water and most of my gel. Started to perk up after that, but my legs were still pretty heavy. After a bit I realized that I never saw the first mile marker as my watch was at 12 minutes. Figured it must have been the water stop. Came to another water stop and there was a Mile 2 paper taped to the table. I may or may not have managed to hit the lap button haha. A bit after that I knew I'd probably see my in laws so I kept an eye out for them. Spotted my father in law's tie dyed shirt and that was a nice boost. While my legs didn't exactly feel GOOD, they started to loosen up or something. Started pushing the pace a bit. I remembered that there probably wasn't a mile 3 marker, like last year. I would have loved to have at least ONE mile where I knew my pace! Especially since I felt so slow in the first mile or two. I knew I'd probably see a mile 3.5 (yes really) marker at the next table, just like last year. Saw it and hit the lap button. Started picking up the pace and actually picked off a few runners - men and women. That's not something I can say often so it was a nice little mental boost. I'm pretty familiar with this course now so I knew when to turn it up. Came to the finish line, saw Michael, and then powered to the end.

Take a gel/nutrition earlier and drink more on the bike so I'd feel better at the start of the run.

Grabbed an orange slice, half a bagel, banana and some Gatorade. Found Michael and then we got our stuff together and headed over to his parents' place for our yearly tradition of Spunky Dunkers donuts. After swimming in Donut Lake, eating one is quite appropriate.


Lack of bike training.


As always, this is a great race. I love coming to Michael's hometown each year for Twin Lakes. This year there was apparently a photographer, so I look forward to see if we're in any photos. The volunteers were great and it was a great day to race!