Petoskey Triathlon - Sprint Course - Triathlon

Swim went great but water was cold. Goal was to break 12 with a stretch goal of 10. I started at the back of the pack and it cost me 30-40 seconds to get clear of people. Hopefully the wetsuit fits better next season as I had a serious case of man boobs! I looked at previous years and I would have been first out of the swim in my age group. This year was definitely more competitive. Couldn't believe I was in the top 20 overall with one week of training!

Line up towards the middle of the pack. Other than that, I'm happy. I only trained my swim for a week before I injured my ankle (apparently you aren't supposed to go from 0 - 1500 meters everyday overnight).

Slow transition. Approximately 400m from swim to t1 which did not help. I was 5/9 in the group, people ahead of me were 4:17, 4:57, 5:23, 5:26. I think I can get to the 3rd place position easily with changes mentioned below. I was confused as to why everyone had 5 gallon buckets at transition but it made sense once I saw them use the bucket as a seat to put on socks and shoes.

I need a tri top and one watch to wear throughout the race. I also need to make sure HR monitor is waterproof and wear that along with number belt under my wetsuit. This would probably cut at least a minute or two of transition time, even more if I go without socks. Cycling gloves weren't necessary at this distance and were a pain to get on.

Bike went well but the course was a little short. I was passed by a few people on fancy bikes and passed a few people (mainly women). I did pass one guy around my age, so that made me happy. I don't think bike shoes make a huge difference at this distance. More hills than advertised. The median person was 1 minute faster than me, so I was pretty average.

Lose weight (approximately 35 pounds). I need to get stronger on the climbs and improve my overall engine before I can justify the cost of a new bike. I told my wife that when I hit 180 I get a bike. My dad chirped in that HE would buy me a bike if/when I hit 180, so bonus motivation!

7th fastest T2 time overall! This is probably due to wearing my running shoes instead of bike shoes, but it still felt awesome to come in the top 10 in at least one "event"

Need more bricks to prepare for how my legs feel when I get off the bike.

Definitely my weakest event. Fortunately it's also the most affected by my weight so losing 35 pounds will make a big difference here. My feet were killing me during the run, but I ignored it as best I could. This was right around my 10k pace so I was happy with that. I need to decide what I want to focus on next year once I'm done with half marathon training. Regardless of whether it's sprints or Olympic distance, I need to get faster on the run. My second watch didn't locate satellites until .33 miles into the run. That pissed me off.

Lose weight, get a better watch, possibly some speed work. It's depressing watching everyone pass me on the run.

Sat in the grass basking in my awesomeness.


My weight. Surprisingly my ability in a given sport seems to be inversely related to the amount of time I spent training it. I spent the least amount of time swimming, then biking, with running taking up most of my time. I performed best in swimming, then biking, and was terrible on the run.


This was a wonderful race and a great experience for my first triathlon. My goal was 1:35 - 1:37, so I crushed that. I will definitely be back! I might move up to Olympic distance next year, but will be completing the sprint course in Petoskey to see how much I have improved.