Batavia Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Running start from the beach, one person at at time, spaced out every 5 seconds. Water was a little chilly so it was hard to breathe the first few moments. Eventually I settled down, warmed up, and got my breathing in order. You don't actually swim that far because as you loop around the back side of the island it's shallow enough to stand up and dolphin dive or run in the water. I'd estimate actual swimming is maybe 100 to 150 yards topps. Since there are two loops there is potential to get bunched up with other people. I made light contact with other people but luckily no hard kicks or punches dished out or received. I felt strong coming out of the water

Nothing really. I suppose if the weather forecast called for chilly air temps I might have considered a wetsuit, but considering how short the swim is, it seems a little silly.

Scarfed down a gel pack, chugged some gatorade, and off I went. Since I didn't have a wetsuit I was in and out pretty quick (by my standards).

Nothing

Had a little trouble clipping into my speedplays. I have a lot of riding experience and never have issues clipping in. Perhaps it was just jitters and nerves. I crossed the mount line and jumped on the bike. I felt like I had my right cleat aligned over the pedal and I stood up to mash it in and slipped right off the pedal. This happened twice, and I felt bad because I almost caused the guy behind me to crash cuz he had to take evasive maneuvers to get around me. It didn't help that this was going uphill! After I got that sorted out and got going I felt pretty good. I'm fat and slow so I was hoping to average over 18mph on the bike, which I did, and so I'm happy overall with how I rode. The course was well marked, well patrolled and there were no bottle necks. I got passed by a few people, but I did pass a lot more people than passed me. There was a group of about 5 of us that seemed to be on the same pace for the entire course. We kept passing each other at various times, but we weren't drafting. I was very careful not to ride on anyone's wheel. In the last mile I finally broke away and came in first out of that group. The only thing is when approaching transition from the bike course, there's a sharp right turn, downhill, to turn into the parking lot. I misjudged how sharp and steep that turn was, and came in a little hot... had to squeeze the brakes really hard and pray! I think they should have a course marshall at the top of that hill cautioning people as they approach that turn to slow down ahead of time.

Considering my mishap with clipping in at the bike start, I need to practice that a little more and perhaps learn to do a flying mount with my shoes already clipped in.

My transition position was close to the bike in/out so I didn't have to run far with the bike. Rack space was open so I had no problems getting the bike back in quickly. I don't wear socks so I was able to slip on my running shoes quickly. Race belt, hat, bottle of water, gel shot, and off I went...

Body glide on my heels, or socks... more on that in my run report

I grabbed a bottle of water and held it for the first half of the run. I wasn't sure how many water stations there would be, and since it was very hot and humid I didn't want to take any chances. Turns out I didn't need to carry that water. There were enough water stations. So at the 2nd station I tossed my now warm bottle of water into a barbage can. One thing that really screwed me up was I formed a bad blister on my left heel about a mile into my run. I trained running without socks and never had any issues. I think a combination of the heat and humidity helped cause this problem. I'm a slow runner to begin with. I average about 9 minutes per mile on a 5k. Since this was a 4 mile run and I had a blister, I ran a lot slower. I didn't pass one person on the run... and I got passed by a lot of people. I need to lose more weight, that's a given!

Socks or body glide on my heels.

Blister on heel was quite painful and demoralizing. I might have saved a little time on the run if I wasn't in so much pain.


Overall I was very pleased with my performance. My time was 1:40. My goal was 1:45 or better, so I feel really good that I beat my goal, especially considering how seldom I can find time to train (two toddlers at home and a I travel for my job so I have limited time to train). This is only my 3rd race ever, and my first one this season. Based on how I performed and how I felt after the race(heel blister aside), I feel good about my next race. Just have to keep training losing weight so I can move faster.