Sunfish Summer Triathlon - Triathlon

Last year my goal in the four sprint tri's I did was to just live through the swims. I never really swam all of any of them, even the 200 yard pool swim I had to breast stroke part of the way. So this year I have worked on my swim more and set my goal to freestyle the whole .5 mile swim. I felt great in the water never got in trouble or felt like I needed to rest. My strokes were the same at the end as they were at the start, I even pasted a few people on the way out. BUT boy did I swim crooked!! I zig-zagged all over the place. I feel like I added 200 yards to the swim. It must not have been as bad as I think because I was expecting about 2:15 per 100 and my time doesn't reflect how crooked I feel like I was swimming. The course may have been short I don't know but almost everytime I sighted I was off. Overall I am very pleased with my swim.

Swim straight!!!Maybe push a little harder.

I am just guessing at the T1 time because they did not seperate it out on the results. Both transition must be added to the bike because my bike computer had my bike time of 1:09 and the results had me at 1:11. Anyway it was an uphill run from the water to the transition but everything went smooth no real problems.

If I went any faster I more than likely would have made a mistake.

I knew the bike couse was going to be hilly so I was mentally ready. There was a short hill right out of transition and I attacked it and passed several people, the spectators cheered my effort and I was pumped. We rode through the finish line across the dam which was flat so I settled down on my aero bars and got comfortable, right after the dam there was a big down hill that I got up to 35 mph on and held 26 mph for a while after it smoothed out, then the hills started and several times I had to remind myself that this was a race and I need to push. Most of the hill were just rollers and I could carry my momentum from one to the next. There about 3 hill big enough to get your attention though two were fairly short but steep and the last was long and got steep at the end. On one of the shorter climbs there were several cars behind a slower biker, I didn't want to lose my momentum so I just passed the cars and the biker at the sametime. One of the cars had there windows down and a little boy told him mother "Hey look at him!! He is going Fast!!" That made me feel good even though it was not exactly true. The lady on the bike that I passed said kidding "Showoff" to which I replied "you will catch me on the run" and she did. Overall I feel really good about how my bike went, I stayed in the aero bars except when I was climbing and I passed people on all 3 of the bigger hills. The truth is that I put in some big miles for me earlier this week and I really did not taper to much, so my legs were not in the shape to push as hard as I did. Bottom line is I rode a good bike ride but not a very smart bike leg of a triathlon were you have to run when you get off. I drank about 30 oz of Gatorade and took a GU at about halfway.

I had to move the bike next to me over some to make room but other than that I did about as well as I could. I am guessing at the time but whatever it was I am pleased because at this point in my triathlon career I could not go much faster.

You have to know my back ground to understand my running. Three and a half years ago I weighed 372 lbs. I was asthmatic as a kid and was told not to run, so needless to say I do not have a running background. I am not tring to make any excuses, but my best case would have been about 10:30 pace so eventhough I completle blew up I feel ok about it. One because I pushed myself hard enough to blow up and Two because when I did crack I gutted it out. The run was really going pretty good until about 2.5 miles when Ifelt my quads tighten up. I knew then I should have picked up the electrolytes I left in transition. The aid stations only had water. At mile 3 I started cramping and had to walk some I took the GU I had brought and decided to walk every 4 min or so to try to hold off the cramps but at about 3.5 miles my legs completly locked up and there was nothing I could do but move forward at a slow stiff legged walk. I made it to the final aid station and drank alot of water and managed to keep moving. I thought to myself that I am doing the "Iornman shuffle" in a sprint that can't good. I mangaed to "jog" most of the last mile and did not look to bad at the finish line, but I lost atleast 50 spots on the run. I know I rode the bike to hard but more than anything I just need to run more and break through the mental barriers that make me not train as hard as I should for the run.

My family was at the finish so I did not want to look like I was hurting so I smiled and talked with them and took pic's with my son. I was very happy that they all saw me race, my brother in law keep saying now how far did you swim, bike, run etc... and then he would say yea I could do that. whatever. My sister in law keep calling it a "Mini triathlon" which really was getting on my nerves. I went to get my stuff at in the transition and my legs went weak and I had to sit down for a min. We had about a 4 hour drive home so we left before the awards. My Quads are still sore today.


I think this is a very good race the course is challenging but not extreme. There were plenty of volunteers and the lady at the run turn around cheering made my day. I wish that they had gatorade or powerade at the aid station and some mile markers would be nice, but overall it is very well done and it will be on my race calender next year.