North Carolina Triathlon Series Race #9 - Triangle Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This was my first OWS at a tri. I freaked out at the beginning of the swim. I couldn't breath, I couldn't swim, nothing. I finally calmed down a bit and got through the swim. I ended up breast stroking 90% of the way though because I couldn't get in a rhythm with freestyle - I kept getting out of breath when I tried. Even with the breast stroke, my time ended up being great for me, first time I was below 3 min/100 yards.

I have to get better at swimming. I have to swim more, improve my speed, improve my distance, get over my fear. I had practiced OWS a couple of times before the tri, but somehow in the race it was different. I was dead last in the swim in my Age Group.

I did not rush too much in the transitions. I stayed calm to make sure I didn't forget anything. Dried my feet, put on my bike shoes, helmet and camelback and I was off.

Once I get a little more comfortable in the race environment, I will need to pick up my transition times - buy some speed lacers for my shoes, start rushing a little bit.

I was overall pretty happy with my bike segment. The first 3/4 mile was through the park and they had very narrow lanes marked with cones and I didn't feel comfortable passing. There was this guy in front of me messing with his pedal going about 5 mph the whole way out. That drove me crazy. I finally got around him after the cones and got going. The first couple of miles out on the road, I was still huffing and puffing from the swim but then I calmed down a bit and got into my groove. My bike computer only said 13.7 miles at the end not the 15 it was suppose to be so I'm not sure about that. I drank about 32 oounces of water and ate 2 clif bloks while on the bike which seeemed to work well for me.

I need to train for hills, but I hate hills! I need to improve my overall speed, but I am hoping that will come with time.

It was a long way that we had to run our bikes from the mount/dismount point to the transition area entrance. I did much better this tri than last at running with the bike. Got to my spot, racked the bike, switched shoes, took off my helmet, put on run number and took off.



Just hurry a little more.

The run went pretty well. If the distance was accurate then I am super excited about my pace, first time under 10 minute mile for me! I didn't drink much, a swallow or two at each water station but didn't feel like I needed more. I was able to push a little harder at the end of the race, so I don't know if that is a good thing meaning that my training is paying off, or a bad thing meaning I didn't push myself as much on the rest of it.

Continue to work to pick up my speed!

Went to the bathroom - I had to go bad throughout the whole run! Got some water and an apple, walked around a bit.

Had a problem with my knees again after the race -- about an hour or two after, excruitating pain anytime I bend them, but now two days later they are already totally fine again. I hope as I get stronger this will go away.


Just training, training, training.

Overall this was a great race. I am super excited about it, and about my performance in it. My second tri, first OWS tri, I finished and felt great about it. This is the last one I have planned for the season, so I am just going to work on improving my speed and distance for next year.


One of the only complaints that I had about the whole race is that since I was in the very last swim wave, a lot of people were done with the race when I was just finishing the bike. As I was coming in from the bike on the park road (about 3/4 mile long), a lot of the people that had already finished were already walking out to go home. They were spread out all the way across the road walking down it where people (ME) were still trying to race!! They made no effort to get out of the way, just continued to walk all across the road. I just thought this was super disrespectful and rude. I know I am not the fastest person there, but my time is still important to me, and several times I had to come almost to a complete stop to avoid hitting these racers walking to their cars.

The other thing I am wondering about is the distances. I had PBs on every portion of this tri (including training and race times). This, in addition to the fact that at the end of the bike my bike computer only said 13.7 instead of 15, made me wonder if the distances were measured exactly accurate. If I have improved that much, that is awesome, but it seems odd to me that I would have improved that much on all three parts....

Also to note -- something rubbed my skin raw in two places on my left shoulder in the back and my right front. It is right where stuff would have rubbed, but I don't know if it was my new tri shirt or my camel back that did it. It didn't bother me during the race, just after when I went to shower, but I still want to figure out what it is to stop it from happening next time.