Catfish Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I am NO swimmer. I have never swam more than 50 feet in my life until I started my swim training in July of 2006, yes 2006 as in a little over a month ago. I trained at the Y in a pool and got up to 30 laps without stopping and thought I was ready. WRONG, I struggled the whole swim. I had a hard time controlling my breathing, and my pace. I think it was the open water that got the best of me, along with having to navigate, avoid rocks, and people. I kept looking for the blue line to follow? lol. It was a great experience overall, but I will defintaly be hitting some local deep water lakes to practice in the open water.

For this race nothing, it was a good race to be a first open water race. The fact that its shallow is good if you get into trouble, but the downside is you can use it as a safety blanket.

I felt great out of the water, sprinted up the ramp. I had a bib number in the 300's so my bike was right at the entrance of the transition area and got a good spot on the end of a rack. I was able to throw on my socks, shoes, shades, race number belt, and helmet very smoohtly. I chugged some Gatoraid while pushing my bike to the timing chute and got a good running start.

Practice transitions. I never really practiced transitions becuase I had no idea what to expect.

This ride went really well for me. I was riding a Mountain Bike and I didnt think I could break 47:00 minutes. I must have been all pumped up or something becuase needless to say I was pleased with my time of 42:38. The ride back was much faster than going out for me.

I plan to break down and buy a road bike. I also need to practice drinking while riding, because I could only manage to get about a half a bottle down on the entire ride.

Coming into the transition area I hid a traffic jam right in front of the timing chute. In the excitement of it all I grabbed the front brake and did a nice rear wheel stand. Thankfully I didnt go down or take anyone else out. All in all I think T2 went well at 52 seconds...

Pay more attention as I get closer to the transition area. I Also will practice being out of my shoes prior to hitting the timing chutes. I had no idea this was a strategy, as this was my first tri. I just unclipped and ran into the transition area in my cycling shoes and then changed into my running shoes.

My run went well. I was able to make up some ground on those who flew past me on the bike portion. I had one hell of a cramp in my right leg shortly after the run started. Thankfully it went away by the time I hit the batting cages.

Do more bike/run bricks to get my legs used to the change in muscle groups.

A bit of jogging and light stretching. Lots of hydration.


Not knowing when and where I could push myself. I feel like I may have reserved myself in areas because I didnt want to end up buring out, or not having enough left to finish the race strong.


Overall a good race. I had a goal of beating 1:45:00. I am really pleased with beating that by nearly 18 minutes. I was very nervous going into the race, and I feel like the months of training paid off. It was fun and cant wait to do another Triathlon. It was really great to cross the finish line and have the support of my wife, son, and mother and father in law cheering me on. Also thanks to Ron for being a great training partner.

Also, I never saw the people giving free massages.