One Last Tri - Triathlon

The water was pretty cold. It affected my breathing for a good 30-60 seconds. After that my body seemed to adjust well enough. There was minimal congestion and contact.

I really need to practice OWS more. This was my first one and sighting definitely killed momentum.

I am guessing on T1 time as it wasn't measured separately for some reason. The only struggle that I had was getting my shirt on while wet. I ended up putting shoes on in transition as I haven't practiced mounting with shoes clipped into the pedals yet.

Nothing really. This will improve with more practice, having more gear on while swimming, and mounting bike with shoes already clipped in.

My heart rate monitor wasn't working at this point for some reason. So I was going based of RPE. But I felt like I did well based on my time. The corners all had volunteers to direct you and the busier ones had police stopping traffic for us. The only time traffic was an issue was in the last 3/4 mile or so. Traffic was significantly backed up at this point and we could only ride on the shoulder. At this point, passing was pretty much impossible.

Nothing. I felt that this part went well.

Nothing special here. I did a beginners dismount and left shoes on. Jogged to the transition area with the bike. Switching to running was quick.

In the future I'll get quick laces so I don't have to tie them the traditional way.

This is traditionally my weakest area in terms of speed. But for some reason I kicked it up a few notches for the race. I typically train around an 11:00 mile and here I averaged almost a 9:00 mile. Fastest I've ran a 5K in my adult life. So I was really happy with how I did. Felt pretty strong the whole way.

I ended up not really liking running with my sunglasses. So I would have left those in transition. Otherwise no complaints.

No real physical warm-down. Grabbed some water and finished my Gatorade from the bike. Grabbed some snack for the car ride home.


Biggest limiter based on my conditioning was the swim. The combo of cold water and poor sighting technique probably added a few minutes.


Good overall race for my first tri.

Pros

I liked the course length and difficulty. The bike course had good traffic control. Run was totally flat. Good volunteers and even some fans out on the bike course to root you on.

Cons

Bike course was often rough and not all that comfortable. Cold water temps (to be expected in Sept in MN). No T1 split time for some reason.