Big Foot Triathlon - Sprint Course - Triathlon

The fog was the story of the day. Thick, pea soup fog. It was like the John Carpenter movie The Fog. The start was delayed 30 minutes, and the Olympic distance swim was cut to 750M. As this was my first triathlon and I was most unsure of the swim I lined up towards the back. It ended up I was quite a bit faster than quite a few of the others, and was frustrated getting stuck behind swimmers ahead of me. Then all of a sudden...open water! I kept on going thinking I was going straight...but alas, I went off course. I'm still figuring out sighting and was trying to sight on my weaker side so I switched over and was much more successful there on out. I rounded the buoy and cranked it up passing by quite a few of the folks from the waves ahead of me. Overall I felt calm and my stroke (which I've been working hard on) felt strong. It wasn't a fast time, but I feel very proud of my swim today.

Practice sighting and seeding myself farther up in the pack.

I took my time at T1 as this was my first tri...I didn't want to forget anything. Suit went off fine, and then I could not find my sunglasses that I had left in my helmet! I spent a few minutes trying to find them, before finally giving up - it was foggy on the course so they wouldn't be super important.

I wore my bike shoes running out of transition...I'm now regretting not buying tri bike shoes last year and went with the traditional shoes! So it was an awkward run but I didn't push it too much.

I don't think I would do anything different, all went fine other than the sunglasses "disappearing." Though I see a future investment being a pair of tri bike shoes!

So remember how I mentioned I was in a crash the day before? I had had a busy day after the crash, and then we got to our accommodations much later than we had anticipated. Then I woke up later than planned...so basically I did not have a chance to check my bike to see if it was OK.

I got out of transition just fine, and then immediately there was a large hill. As I started to shift and climb, the chain fell off the cassette and behind it, essentially wedging itself between the frame and the cassette. Luckily I was able to clip out fast enough to not fall over, but for the life of me I could not unwedge the chain. For several minutes I pulled at the chain and it would not budget. Finally, a passerby came and helped me and after an additional few minutes it came loose. The man (who I am so THANKFUL for his help) recommended avoiding too much shifting the rest of the ride. Which was about 12 more miles...

The rest of the race consisted of trying to catch up mixed in with limited shifting. I ended up being OK staying on my smaller chain ring and dancing between 4 cogs. However the bad derailleur combined with my chain being stripped of a lot of lube from the de-wedging meant shifting was rough and nerve-wracking. As an added bonus my bike computer had been knocked off kilter so I wasn't able to keep my cadence in check. However, considering the conditions I felt my ride went pretty well and I made up a lot of lost ground.

Not cram so much into my schedule the day before a race so I have time to do things like do a basic check up on my bike!

Transition went smooth. As I took my bike helmet off, I noticed...VIOLA!!!...my sunglasses had been in my helmet after all, safe and snug between my head and the helmet.

Only thing slowing me down was my need to visit the port-o-pots. Try as I might, I cannot pee during the swim or on the bike. I'm ok losing a minute at the loo!

Think everything went OK, but if I wanted to be more competitive learn to pee during the swim or on the bike.

I knew this would likely be the strongest part of the race for me...and it was. The first mile was spent getting used to my legs after the bike, the second mile was getting my pace in check, and the third mile was spent picking off other runners and finishing strong. I felt like a rock star crossing the finish line. The only thing that impeded my performance was the high humidity - I felt like I was breathing in a steam room.

Do more brick workouts so I can adjust to the run faster.

Walked around a little with a little stretching. Drank the chocolate milk and ate the pretzels in my goodie bag.


Experience, poor sighting, bike chain falling off


Events not on time only due to weather conditions.