Finger Lakes Triathlon - Sprint Course - Triathlon

They told us in the pre-race briefing: "First-timers, if you panic, stand up." Well, I panicked. Couldn't make myself put my face in the water, couldn't freestyle without putting my face in the water, general ick. Fortunately, the pre-race briefing was accurate -- the course was shallow enough that I (and several other people) actually walked the whole thing.

More OWS practice. And cold water practice -- it wasn't that cold, but colder than the pool where I'd been training by several degrees.

Took my time here. Walked my bike out to the mount line instead of jogging with it, because I was still feeling the nerves from the swim.

More Body Glide on my calves.

Drove the course the day before so I'd know when to expect the hills. Did ok on hill climbs (except the worst one, which I strategically chose to walk up). Felt like I got passed by everyone and their brother, but nearly everyone passing me was shouting encouragement. Traffic was polite, mostly. Cops and volunteers were great.

It was f'ing freezing when I set out on the course, enough that I almost bailed around mile 6 because I was in so much discomfort. Had to remind myself a lot that it was _just_ discomfort, not actual pain, so I might as well push through it; then the sun started to come out and things improved drastically.

Train more on open roads rather than a trainer so I'm less freaked out by traffic. Practice fixing a flat sometime during non-race conditions -- saw a lot of folks waiting for the sag wagon.

Drank about a cup of Nuun, mostly to wet my mouth since I didn't sweat much on the bike course. No shoe switch. Snapped on race belt and headed back out.

Did run 2 min / walk 1 min intervals with good results. Probably could have gone out harder, but since it was my first real tri I was more interested in coming in smiling than pushing as hard as possible. Bike legs not too bad -- everything shook out in the first half mile or so. Really love the first part of the run. The lagoon is pretty.

Work a little harder. Ended up not even breaking a sweat in the run, which is silly.

Walked 0.7 mi back to the hotel with my cheering squad and my bike. Some pain in my left hip flexor -- I think this is because of funny bike pedaling biomechanics which I'll have to address.


Laziness, simple as. Fell off the training wagon in mid June and never _really_ got back on, although I was out running from time to time and occasionally riding the trainer. Next year, more discipline.


Lots of great volunteers. Props to the bike marshals especially for sitting out on the course in the early-morning rain before the event actually got going.