Buck Creek Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

Swim felt good. I didn't freak out this time swimming with others around. It was a little scary to me knowing the all of the men in the race started behind me and would be passing me at some point. I tried to stay out of major traffic patterns and just swam my race. I got bumped a few times - had to stop swimming once because of a pretty hard collision, but nothing really rattled me much. I know that I have poor swimming skills and there was nothing I could do in the race except swim the way I know how and get through it. Swim wasn't unpleasant at all, just slow. Huge difference from last year when I freaked out just because someone got near me. :)

Develop proper swimming form and skills.

This isn't a bad T1 time for me. Spent the bulk of the time getting my Garmin, shoes and socks on. Can never seem to get my Garmin fastened the first time and I always fumble with my socks.

Practice more.

My goal was to keep average over 15mph, and I succeeded with a 15.3 average. I lost a powerade bottle pretty early on, but I don't think it affected me too much. I drank a bottle of water and had a gel during the ride. Heart rate monitor screamed at me most of the ride, but I didn't feel uncomfortable. Actually passed a few people on the bike. :)

Not much at this point. Definitely need to work on improving cycling skills.

Not much to T2 for me. I use the same shoes for bike and run, so just have to take off my helmet and gloves and get my bike racked. Walked my bike in, but ran out of T2.

Nothing

Tough run for me. Had trouble getting and keeping my heart rate down. Had trouble relaxing. I expected the same flat run from last year's course, and was surprised with a fairly hilly course this year. Walked most of the uphill sections and ran the rest. Didn't have a bad pace for me, average was under 12 m/m. Interesting finish.... When I was coming into the final stretch, I saw a man in front of me that I decided I was going to pass. Started sprinting and passed the guy, but couldn't keep the pace going and he passed me back right before the line. I'm still smiling about that little incident. I've never tried to pick someone off at the finish, and looking back, if I had to do it over, I would have stayed on his tail and shot pass him right at the end rather than giving him a chance to take the lead back. It was a fun game at the finish! I was pretty surprised to see that my final .17 miles were at a 8:56 pace. Granted, it wasn't sustainable for me, and I thought I was going to throw up at the finish line, but the point is that I AM capable of running faster.

Did the best I could for right now. Need to build a strong base for next season.

A volunteer handed me a bottle of water at the finish line - that was a nice touch!
Walked around to cool down a bit. Talked to wsm9363 and met his GREAT family! Talked to my hubby and friend for a little while and stretched out before heading out to brunch.


My stubborness trying to train the way I WANT to train rather on how I SHOULD have trained.


Good way to finish the tri season. Fun race and great competitors!