Dewey Beach Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon

My first triathlon (a note that I'll repeat in each section). The water was actually not bad - moderate swell with a strong current. We swam N to S with both the wind and the current.

I'm not a strong swimmer - just started in earnest in Feb and raced in Sept. I chose to go in my age group instead of in the novice wave and was glad. We waited about 20 minutes to go. I hung back and took my time on the swim, stopping to float (in wetsuit) a couple of times. Had some difficulty in navigation - found myself a solid 30 meters past the buoys at one time and also struggled to keep moving when I ran into other swimmers. Overall the swim was MUCH better than I anticipated and from what I understand much easier than in the prior two years.

Train more and train more in open water. I did make two trips to Rehoboth to train with Kevin Danahy from TriCoach (highly recommended) but still am not quite where I need to be. Next year I hope to actually race in the water.

Also, my wetsuit zipper died right before the race (separated) so there was a time period of freaking out prior to the swim.

Had trouble getting the wetsuit off due to zipper issues. As a result, transition was really slow. Actually stopped by the porta potty too.

Put Body Glide on ankles to help get wetsuit off. Not destroy my wetsuit prior to the swim... :-)

By far the worst part of the tri for me. People passing me almost non stop. I was so focused on training for the swim that I definitely did not get my training in the way I should have. On the way back in (into the headwind) my right calf started to cramp up. Unhappy ride all the way around.

Train harder for the tri and make sure that I have different equipment. I was using a road bike, but did not have any type of aero bars. That combined with my hefty frame effectively made me a big sail riding into the wind. Next year for sure this needs to improve.

This transition much more straight forward although still long by most people's standards. I stopped to guzzle a bunch of water and didn't take anything off prior to getting off the bike.

Next time for the bike I hope to get out of shoes with them still locked into pedals. Also need to have a second water bottle on bike so that I don't need to stop to drink during transition.

The run was great. I realized that I was going to finish my first tri and just relaxed through the run - not moving too fast but moving nonetheless. There was a water station at about the 1/3 and 2/3 points on the race. I stopped at the station walked with a cup of water for about 100 feet and then started back up each way. It was nice to start passing people at least at some point in the race.

My objective was to finish the tri with a smile on my face, so I didn't push myself too much at this point. Next year I hope to actually race more competitively - for that I would have made sure I had some way to track my pace. I had no real insight into the pace going out - just ran at a slow comfortable pace.

Was met by my friends (several of whom raced) at the finish line and walked a bit. Moved quickly to beer - we took a cooler BTW and did not wait in the loooong beer line.


It was my first tri and I was a bit overwhelmed. I didn't have a great sense of where my physical limits were (especially on the bike) and didn't really push myself the way I could have. I was honestly delighted to just finish, although when I learned that I finished last in my age class I was a bit pissed :-).

Looking back, I think I would have benefited from more bike training and also I should have practiced my transitions more. Also better gear on the bike would go a long way. I only averaged about 13.5 MPH on the bike - I think that with some training and more aerodynamic handlebars that could shift by about 5-6MPH which would have a big impact on time.


A great race for my first tri. Lots of really supportive and nice people. The night before the tri they had a first timers seminar and they also had a separate wave for first timers (I chose to go with my age group).

A couple of words of caution: If you're a beginner, make sure that you spend some time swimming in the ocean before coming out to race. Also if you're a weak swimmer (like me), make sure you get / rent a wet suit. While the waves were pretty friendly for this year's race, I was at Dewey a month earlier to train and swam in 4+ foot swells and that was not a pleasant experience.