Marathon Sports Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

After racking the bike, Jeremy and I headed down to the pond for the swim start. That’s when I heard the announcement about the weeds. Weeds? Yep, apparently there is some new weed growing in the pond. They assured us that it was not harmful, just annoying. OK. I got in and did a little warm-up swim, mainly to get used to the water and weeds. Every time I put my face in, there was a weed. So.Very.Gross!

As I was waiting for my wave, I got very nervous. I don’t know if it was anxiety about the swim or what, but I was getting a little weird. Luckily, it was time to get in the water, so I was distracted. It was a deep-water start, so I had to tread water for a minute or so. I tried not to use much energy, but I probably did. At the start I got bumped a few times, I put my hand on someone’s butt (sorry!) and someone grabbed my foot. After that, I found open water and just cruised. I don’t think I was going hard enough though, because I stopped several times to sight. I need to practice that. The rest of the swim was uneventful but weedy. Time- around 8:45.


Get a better position. It was such a small wave that I could have been more to the middle and knocked off a couple seconds. Also, I was not going full out. Go hard!

Coming out of the water was difficult. There were weeds (of course), rocks, and a steep uphill run. Jeremy ran with me all the way back to transition as I took off goggles and cap. I think it took about 2 min to get to T1 and then another 2 min in T1. T1 was good. Feet in bucket, helmet on head, sunglasses, gloves. Sit on bucket, dry feet, socks, shoes, Gatorade, race belt on, GO! Pretty smooth.


Nothing really. The bucket worked great.

On the bike, I went out hard. My plan was to get out fast and then cruise. It worked. There were some hills and I’m still kind of weak on the hills. That killed my average speed, but I made up for it on the downhills and the flats. The course was two 8-mile loops. Volunteers at every turn made it impossible to get lost. Those guys did a great job! I passed some people on the bike and got passed a lot. The men’s wave behind me caught up and smoked me. I took my gel at mile 13 and kept drinking. I guess I had most of a bottle on the bike. Maybe too much. Time- around 55 min.


I got passed a lot! I need more time in the saddle and to get stronger.

Probably around a minute. T2 was even faster, since I ride in my running shoes. The gloved came off in the last ¼ mile. Jumped off the bike, racked it, helmet off, hat on, GO! I started to go the wrong way (doh!), but was redirected. Thanks, dude!


Go the right way...

Of course, I started too fast on the run. I always go out too fast on the run after the bike. No matter what. I had told myself to go slow the first 15 min, then pick it up. That didn’t happen. I went out too fast and burned out by the first ½ mile. Damm! The next part was in the woods, so I was able to go slow and keep a decent pace. Then the wheat field. It was blazing hot and the sun was brutal. Then my legs started biitching. My breathing was fine, but my legs rebelled. I did a combination of run/walk for a while. Then I needed to pee. Too late for that. After about 23 min, I had decided I just had to get moving. I ran the rest and even sprinted the last ¼ mile. I even passed a girl right at the end. Ha! Time- around 30:30. I felt like this was my worst run ever, but the numbers aren’t too awful. Still, I’m disappointed with my run. Have to work on that.


Run more. I just started running at Easter after my injury at the end of Feb. I just don't have the miles yet to be faster. Still, I think I could have pushed a bit more.

Walked around, drank some, pizza, a little stretching.


Besides my fat asss??? Seriously, I could feel those pounds I've picked up. I felt them every step on the run. My run game was off. I predict lots of running in the next 3 weeks before Philly.


It's my first, so what do I really know? I had a great time, that's all that matters! So, there you have it. I did it! And I did it in less than 2 hours. Anyway, thanks for reading this very long report.