Four States Triathlon - Triathlon

This is only my second triathlon with an open water swim. I have had a few practices sessions in the lake but this was by far my best performance when it comes down to comfort. I've been having what I thought was panic about 200m into my open water swims, but now looking back, I think I just started off too fast and got my heart rate up and had difficulty breathing and slowing my heart rate. Although I'm not fast, I was very pleased with this swim as I was comfortable in the water and passed several guys that were in the wave ahead of me (only 3 minutes between waves).

Nothing. I am very happy with this swim. I'd like to get faster with time but with my training and where I am at this time, this was a perfect swim.

Wetsuit strippers are fantastic. When I was coming out of the water, I unzipped and pulled the top down and had my cap and googles off. Unfortunately, I came out of the water in a pack and had my wetsuit over my butt and off one leg before the wetsuit stripper pulled it free from my other leg. I racked my bike at the first rack on the run into transition….everyone else was crammed together at the run out. I probably could have saved a few seconds by racking my bike nearer to the run out but I opted to have a bit more space and not be cramming my bike in a small slot. This was my first race without putting socks on for the bike. I've been riding without in practice and it was comfortable. Wiped my feet off quickly on my towel and shoved my shoes on, helmet on, sunglasses on, and ran out of T1 with the bike

Nothing

I had planned on pushing just a bit on this course as I knew that it was relatively flat and was only 13 miles. I didn't want to burn my legs out for the run but I wanted to push harder than I usually do. My previous average pace is 15mph in practice and 16mph during my previous tri. I tried not to look at the Garmin and went purely on how my legs felt. I had a horrible turn around just before the last stretch to T2. The road was pretty narrow with no shoulder. I ran just off the edge of the road and into the gravel. I managed to keep control and pedaled through the grass and back up onto the road. That scared the s**t out of me. I've never crashed (yet) and I didn't want to do it today. The 2 gys just behind me were teasing that who needs a mountain bike when I had my tri bike :) There was some good natured ribbing and it made me laugh.

Practice turning. I've always had plenty of room to turn before, so I need to practice on tighter turns Very pleased with the speed and effort

I haven't practiced the whole jump/slide off moving bike and feel that at my level, there's no need to risk injury to myself or crashing the bike. The extra 2-3 seconds is worth not crashing. Once off the bike, I ran to my rack, slid the bike on, pulled helmet off, grabbed my headband, and then struggles a bit with my socks. While I have managed to not wear socks on the bike, I always wear socks to run. My feet were still a bit wet from earlier, so pulling on socks was a bit harder. I had them folded down so I could cram my toes in and pull them on but managed to get stuck going over my heel. I only lost a few seconds here but it is something to consider in the future. Grabbed my belt with my race number and out of T2.

Figure out a better way to deal with socks. Either get used to not wearing them or powder my feet before trying to pull them on or something. Not sure…will have to work on this in practice

There was one water station at the center of the "T" so that you hit it 3 times during the run. The volunteers were great. They have a cup ready and were asking if you wanted it far in advance. Great!!

Try not to slow down as much as I did on mile 2! Not sure what happened there….lost focus, got tired….i don't think I was "tired". Of course, it's not supposed to feel great but I wasn't exhausted or hadn't hit the wall.

Ran into a friend from work just as soon as the volunteers pulled my timing chip from my leg. Drank some water and chatted for a second. Walked around for a few minutes. Made my way over to the cold beer and hot dogs. Then went back to transition and put my gear in the car and went to change into dry clothes. Hung around chatting with a few people from work, listened to the awards (missed 3rd in my age group by 18 seconds), and headed home


On this given day, nothing. I am pleased with the finish. My goals for today were to have a good swim and not panic and resort to breast stroke. That goal was met! No breast stroke and no panic. Very happy. Second goal was to push the bike and the run as this was a sprint. 2mph faster on the bike and approx 30-60 seconds faster per mile on the run. Very happy there too. I haven't been training any for speed…I've been trying to build mileage for my next triathlon, a half Ironman in July. So for where I am at, I am pleased. Met all of my goals for the day. I did find a few small areas to work on (socks in transition and tight turns on the bike).


Good race….I will do it again next year. It is fairly close to home (only an hour drive) and was well organized so it made for a good day. Good food afterwards. They had hamburgers (ran out of hamburger buns by the time I made it over to the food after putting gear away and changing clothes) and hot dogs as well as soda, beer and water. Great volunteers on the course, which was closed for traffic which is always nice. I hate worrying about vehicles while trying to focus on the race as well. Great support staff on course.