Jordanelle Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

Well, I did it. I felt pretty good, though this is only my 3rd OWS. I sighted pretty poorly at first, but that improved and by the end I was swimming very straight. I swam this race about 95% freestyle. I stopped every 100 meters or so and took about 6 deep breaths on my back, something I'll try and eliminate for my next race in 4 weeks. I breast stroked a bit, mainly when I swallowed water and need to clearn my throat. I felt pretty strong, and need to keep working on form.

Swim a lot faster! I would take fewer pauses to catch my breath and just swim more efficiently. That will come with time, though.

We had a 1/2 mile run from the swim to our T1, which was brutal. The time for the run was added to this T1 (by me). I was dizzy out of the water, and it took a couple minutes to get the fog out. When I got to T1 it went ok, though my socks were hard to put on. I was so excited to jump on my bike and get going.

Actual time spent in T1 was only 40 seconds: it took me 6 mins to jog the 1/2 mile after the water. Nice.

Have a bit more room for my bike, spread my towel out better.

I had a really good first ride, only being passed by maybe 2 guys that I didn't pass back during the race. I started out strong (having practiced this course a week ago), and passed about 2 dozen bikes before the turn-around point. There's a large hill there, and I went up it fast (perhaps too fast), passing about 4 guys just near the top. The descent wasn't as good as my practice ride last week (about 24mph vs 26), mainly b/c I think I pused it too hard on the way out. It hit 44.6 mph coming down the monster hill and kept up a good pace into T2.

Mellow out a mile or so before T2. I didn't have much left for the run, which caused problems (BONK). I'd also drink more water.

Had what I thought was a great transition. This being my first time, I was kind of mentally out of it as I dismounted, kind of having an out-of-body experience or something. Very strange, but I got my racebelt on fast and away I went.

Nothing.

Bad, bad run. 10 minutes miles!! Yikes! I pushed too hard on the bike, so had a very hard time getting my hr and breathing right. I ended up walking up most of the large hill, then got a sideache at the top, which plagued me the last 1.5 miles. I haven't had one sidache during the last 3 months of training, so that was bizarre. I pushed through it and ran with a guy, so that helped me keep up a pretty good pace the last mile. I then left him and pushed hard the last 1/4 mile or so to the finish line. I must have done the last mile at an 8 minute clip, since I walked a large portion of mile 2.

Reserve a bit more energy for the run, and NOT get a sideache.

Bent over and nearly died.


Inexperience, pushing too hard on the bike, perhaps too few training miles for the run.


Well, my first tri is over. I learned a lot and realize I have a long way to go. I felt a huge sense of elation at the conclusion, like I had really accomplished something. And then I started thinking of where I need to improve, etc., and that feeling of elation vanished! A great race, though, and the start of many to come.