The Canadian - Sprint - TriathlonSprint

The swim was awesome! Waiting on the beach, the wind was absolutely killing me, especially since I had no wetsuit. And of course, it being my first triathlon and with my complete lack of confidence in my swimming, I was nervous as heck! I made sure I was near the back when the swim started and I waded out as far as I could until I basically had to start swimming (any bit of energy conservation helps I figured).

The swim to the first buoy was pretty average. I was able to stay focused on my own technique and breathing. No real contact, although a couple times I found myself catching up to some breaststrokers who are deadly with their feet. I almost got a hit a couple times but I was able to wind my way around them. I was really proud of how I was able to do this without getting panicked at all and how quickly I was able to regain my rhythmn.

Once I hit the first buoy, my rounding was perfect and I was doing it alone so no worries there. The trip to the second buoy was fantastic. For the most part there was no one around me so I had nothing to distract me and I was able to just focus on technique and breathing. Even my sighting and ability to swim straight which usually sucks was the best it's ever been. I was sighting about every 5 strokes and I was never too far off and my sighting felt extremely quick and efficient. In no time I hit the second buoy and had another picture perfect turn with no hassles.

The swim back in from the second buoy was great. Once I saw how close we were I really began to give er. I increased my stroke rate and got the feet pumping to hopefully get some blood in them. Like the thursday swim, I expected to tire myself out but amazingly, even the added effort didn't take all that much out of me. Coming out of the water I had a huge smile on my face :)

Pretty much nothing. I had a perfect swim as far as my expectations were concerned. The only thing I felt I could of done was maybe go harder and faster! Next time :)

This was so much fun. Once we started running out of the water and into T1. I felt like a real triathlete :) I made sure to get off my swim cap and goggles the second I stood up. Finding my bike was a breeze since I got a spot right on the end. Everything went smoothly.

Attempt to leave my shoes in the pedals maybe, but first I need some practice.

The bike overall went ok. It's a shame, not until the 25km mark did I really feel like I was in a rhythmn. For the most part I think I was guilty of trying to grind too big a gear. I think I did a good job of pushing as hard as I could though. I just think my general bike fitness isn't very good overall. I did however manage to do the ol "take your shoes off as your re-entering" thing. It didn't work out that great though because I slowed down a ton while trying to get them off. The other bad part was that one of the shoes dragged and actually fell right off the bike. Fortunately I had slowed down a lot by that time so I just stopped the bike, ran back and picked up my shoe and held out while I ran the bike back into T2. I did the first 15km loop without drinking at all and had a drink as I made the turnaround for the 2nd lap. Then had an additional drink after making the turnaround for the final stretch back.

Just need to put in more time on the bike.

The second I got off the bike I realized how much my ass really hurt. During the last quarter of the ride I could feel it getting sore but it wasn't until I got off that I realized how much pain I was in (next bit of equipment to buy: tri-shorts). Fortunately the run in went very well and I was able to jog in my bike fairly quickly. After racking my bike and putting on my shoes, I made sure to finish off the rest of my gatorade before running out.

More practice with taking off the shoes and biking on top of them.

The run was horrible (even given the fact that I hadn't ran AT ALL this year, shame on me). Pretty much right from the beginning my ass was hurting way too much to actually take decent strides so all my strides were way shorter than I was used to. On top of that, about 3/5 of the way into it, I could feel my left quad really cramping up and I knew it was just a matter of time before it became unbearable, not sure if this had more to do with being on the seat or just not drinking enough. Either way, as much as I didn't want to have to walk any of the run, shortly after the turnaround, I walked for about 30 seconds. In retrospect, given my situation, I think it was a good idea. The rest of the run was painful but at least the feeling of an impending cramp didn't again resurface. Near the end the runners got stretched out more and more and eventually there wasn't really anyone near my back which allowed me to be all by myself for my photo finish where Geordie was there announcing and gave me a high-five as I passed the finish.

Get tri-shorts to save my ass :) Also drink more during the run.

Nothing really. Pancakes, bagels and bananas :)


-#1: Lack of training
-Holding back on the swim since I had no idea that it would go as well as it did
-Not drinking enough.


Tons of fun and very rewarding for a first triathlon!