Tri the Wildwoods - TriathlonSprint

The horn went off and I ran into the water. I had read about running into the water until you are knee high using high steps with your knees coming up nearly to your armpits in order to run as long as possible. Then I dove in and began freestyle swimming. Big mistake. The waves were strong and repetitious. Within my first 10 strokes I was already struggling for air. The waves continuously crashed into me causing two distinct problems: first, water was coming into my nose and I couldn't get a full breath, and two, I was being pushed back towards the shore so that I wasn't making any progress at all. I immediately switched to breastroke to stay above the water to breathe and to also go over the waves letting the momentum flow under me instead of pushing me back to the shore. This worked enough to let me breathe at least, but I was barely making headway. This is only 440 feet of total swim! I finally made it to the first buoy of the box setup swim and turned right. Now the waves were crashing into my left side. I attempted freestyle but found myself being pushed back to the shore again and the same problem of breathing occurred even when trying to breath right side only (now I know why being able to breathe on both sides is so crucial!). I switched to side stroke so that my back was taking the brunt of the waves and my head was constantly above the water to continue breathing. I was moving but very very slowly. Several times I thought about giving up as it seemed like I'd never make it to the next buoy. I thought to myself "this is it, I'm never doing a triathlon again!" I had trained two months in the pool and found that nothing had prepared me for this at all. The constantly crashing waves, the constant resistance to being pushed back to shore, the inability to breath properly and worst of all, the inability to even do a freestyle. Finally, I made it to the turn buoy and turned right so that I was swimming back to shore. The waves at my back allowed me to freestyle at last. I swam until I could touch the ocean floor and then proceeded to slowly jog out. I should have instead continued to swim until I was impossible to go further as swimming is much faster than wading. Additionally, using the waves to my advantage would have been helpful, but instead I chose to jog out of the water with all that resistance. STUPID. Finally I exited the water very demoralized and nearly beaten but I told myself, now you can go to bike which is a strong point for you. You can make up time.

1. I correctly ran with the high hops but what I started stroking too early. I should have begun dolphin hopping until there was no ground to jump off of. This would mean springing off the ocean floor and into the air with hands together overhead and diving out and towards the ocean floor and then bringing knees up and springing off the ground again being careful to avoid the waves if possible.

2. I just read about ocean water dynamics and apparently the current near the surface flows towards the shore but underneath the surface, on the ocean floor, the current goes back out to sea (rip current). Therefore, I would have tried diving under and letting the rip current do the work for me.

3. Coming back into the shore I need to swim for as long as I possibly can, not standing up or running out of the water until it's impossible to swim any more.

Place: 397/423
Took my time. I jogged in, washed the sand off my feet with the water and then dried them off and put my bike socks on. I wasn't hungry so didn't eat the half bananna. I put a gel pack into my short pockets and put on my under armour shirt (I don't have a tri top yet). I decided not to put the HR monitor on as it would just distract me. I put helmet and shades on and then walked the bike quickly to the bike start. We weren't allowed to run according to race rules, but of course people were neglecting that and running. Having bike shoes that clop loudly and clumsily I decided to take it easy and walk fast.

I definitely need to practice starting with bike shoes already clipped onto the bike and also riding without socks. But without the practice, it was smart not to attempt it this time. Also, I saw another guy's transition area and he used a plastic storage bin with lid (sort of like an under the bed storage bin) to keep his stuff in. I thought that was a really good idea.

The bike race was very comfortable for me. I passed a LOT of people and it was such a confidence booster! All that hill training paid off handsomely and I was cruising. Only 2 people passed me the whole time. Interestingly, I learned something about my psyche that I don't know is a good or a bad thing. Whenever people tried to pass me, a switch went on in my head and I thought, "there's no way you're passing me... it's not happening." So, I would let them pass me (per race rules) and then I would charge ahead of them fast. Surprisingly, I had ample leg strength and was able to overtake them without tiring myself out too much. For most of the race I was in the 20-24 mph range maxing at one point at 30 mph down a straightaway. It felt great. I drank approximately once every 10 minutes. I stayed in the big ring the entire race and used a low cadence high gear most of the time, but switched to higher cadence when trying to increase speed after a relatively short hill.

I'm not sure. I know I have a lot of room for improvement. There was a really strong headwind in one direction. I was in the drops the whole bike portion but I wonder if I could improve my position on the bike to eliminate wind drag more?

Place: 389/423

I walked the bike back to the transition area and could immediately feel how tired my legs were. The beach run had me apprehensive... I'd never run on sand before. I took off bike shoes, shades and helmet and had a gel pack. Put on running shoes and cap and took off towards the shore.

I need to learn to ride without socks and then to unstrap and ride on top of my bike shoes before dismounting.

The run was horrible. Running with sneakers on the hard sand was incredibly difficult and my calves immediately began to feel really bad. About 3/4 of a mile in I noticed that people were taking off their shoes and leaving them on the beach to run barefoot. I figured I'd give it a try. GLORIOUS HEAVEN that felt better. It was still difficult but it was much much better. I ran another 1/4 mile and stitches were coming on from both sides of my body. I walked about 2 minutes and then began running again try to breath out as much as I could on the exhale. Eventually the stitches lessened somewhat and I began running. I was at a snails pace, and my calves were killing me. Finally I rounded the halfway mark at 1.55 miles and started coming back. I began to feel a second wind and picked up the pace a little bit. At the 2 mile mark, I was feeling better and better and began picking up the pace even more. By mile 2.5 I was running at a good long stride pace. Despite my brick workouts, perhaps my body wasn't fully prepared for the transition and took 2 miles to get into running form. That and getting used to the sand. Whatever the reason, finally I began hitting good stride. I finished strong and put on a concentrated face for the photographer. I had finished my first triathlon ever!

I need to get into running form and get rid of the heavy leg feeling quicker out of the transition. I'll know more next week after I do a more traditional sprint triathlon at Marlton Lakes.

Didn't warm down which may have been a mistake because I'm feeling sore as heck today! My calves are killing me.


No previous experience. Ocean swim was incredibly daunting. Inability to freestyle in the ocean. Goggles leaking on right side made one eye red and irritable during the swim and rest of the race. Wearing bike socks took time off the transition. Running on the beach was very difficult with shoes on.


I liked this race. All the people were really nice and helpful. Stephen the race director was awesome. They only served water, and there were only 2 aid stations. The second drink station on the last portion of the run was unmanned and had no water left. That was disappointing as my mouth was getting really dry at that point. The post race festivities were weird. The food was not that great, it was basically breakfast food and some muffins. The awards were given out in random fashion as in the guy would literally pick someone out of the crowd and give out free stuff. They were taking forever to tabulate results so my bro and I decided to just leave and beat the traffic rush. The race was fun though and it was a real learning experience. It was very challenging but I don't think it was beyond my abilities in any way. The swim was definitely really hard and I wasn't prepared for it in any way, but the rest of the race was just fine. The mistakes and areas for improvement were mostly mental. I need to incorporate strength workouts more into my training in order to deal with tough running conditions and build muscular endurance (my calves are killing me today). I will definitely do this race again next year!