King Tut Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Bad first open water swim. I can swim all day long in the pool but this open water adventure kicked my butt. All was going good till the airhorn blew, then things starting to go south. People were swimming into me and my right goggles started leaking as soon as I started to swimming. I tried to fix it but nothing would help. So I swam with my right eye full of water. This caused a breakdown of everything after that as I never got in sync and everything was a real effort. I did complete the swim but I had to switch to the breast stoke way too many times.

Practice open water swims and somehow make sure goggles work prior to the airhorn blowing. I need to get a swim / Tri coach to help me improve and get more comfortable in the open water.

Wetsuit came off quickly as I am use to taking off wetsuits given my diving background. I did put socks on so that took a few more seconds (people have told me to not bother with socks on sprint distances - but as my focus was to finish I was not too concerned with my timing).

I will need to look at what I can do to shave off time and compare my time with others. That way I will know if I am suppose to half my time or what. Once I know that then I will look to see what changes I need to do and practice the sequence.

As I seem to do better in this event from the others (given my ranking in each sport) I have something to build on. I have just started to bike so I will focus on getting more powerful and more efficient in my strokes.

Not much as this was my first time so I am just learning. I do keep my cadence between 85-95 so I will need to focus on my power to increase my speed. I need to get a bike / Tri coach to help me improve

I switched from my bike shoes to running shoes pretty quick but I do not have the special laces that you do not tie so I did it the old fashion way - even with double knots.

Practice, Practice.... I think I can be quicker getting off the bike and running to the racks.

Slow, slow and more slow. This was much slower then my past 5k events but maybe it was due to all the other activities prior to this segment. 28 minutes on a 5k - I can do better then that.

Just need to focus on speed work and keeping pace during the race. I need to get a run / Tri coach to help me improve my speed.

Walked a bit and met up with the wife. Found a banana and some water at the finish line.


As this was my very first Tri race I was not expecting to go lights out, so I was fine with results and now I have a base to build from and compare.


I thought PlayTri did a good job as it was an easy first race with regards to logistics and getting the "feel" for an event. Lots of folks were there to help out and answer stupid questions (no such thing as a stupid question....). It was fun and I had a great time and I am looking forward to my next event in two weeks time.