LAC Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was completely freaking out with the swim. First off, I was seeded first. Secondly my stomach wouldn't settle from the food I ate. Lastly, I entered with the fastest time, 4:29. The ref told me that one of the girls that enetered could swim a 4:15 so that made it even worse because she entered a slower time of 4:34. When I finally saw her since she was second in line, I asked her and she said 4:34 was correct. That was a releif, but it still didn't help me with being the first person. That meant I had to be first out and wouldn't have anyone to kind of watch to see what to do next since this is my first triathlon.

When I finally got started it was great. Everyone was cheering because I was the first swimmer. I hop in and take off, probably slightly too fast because of the adrenaline that started pumping from the cheering and nervousness. So I'm watching the girl behind me as we cross paths and I'm hoping please be at the same place or better next time we cross paths. The next few times come around and I notice I was pulling away. That was probably the biggest releif. I was feeling pretty decent so I pushed even a little harder since the swim is the only place I'm going to get an advantage. I think I ended up pulling ahead by a pretty good distance. I think the 2nd place swimmer was about 15 seconds slower than me. When I was done I was so excited. Once again everyone was cheering. It was awsome!!!

I wish I didn't eat that peanut butter sandwich. I got the idea from seeing what a couple of other triathletes were doing on here. I'm still tasting that stupid thing. I also need to chill with the going first thing. I'm guessing that's going to happen often if it's a pool swim. The last thing I want to do is hold anyone up.

I think I did pretty good for a first timer. I ripped my number banner putting my shirt on. I went looking for a race belt the previous day, but couldn't find one. Almost headed out, but took a last minute swig of Gatorade and it was a good thing I did. I put my running shoes on at this point because I don't have the clipless shoes yet. I have the pedals, but not the shoes. It all went pretty fast. My stupid shirt wouldn't come down over my chest, so I just left it rolled up and headed out. I can fix that on the bike.

My transition splits weren't posted, but subtracting my swim/bike/run times from the overall gives me a total of 1:04 for both transitions. That seems pretty good from what I have seen.

Get a race belt for my banner.

This obvously is not my cup of tea yet. The teenage girl that was second passed me within the first quarter mile. The next person was at about 3/4 mile. I was getting passed uphill, downhill, flats, upside down, you name it. I knew that was going to happen because I'm a sprint swimmer so I have little to no endurance and my legs have a long way to go for strength. I didn't even have to worry about the passing rule since everyone was passing me like I wasn't moving.

My PB sandwich issues finally wore off about halfway into this segment, but my freakin' water bottle must have still had soap residue on it because my water was slightly tasting like Palmolive. It was like the flavor intensity in Propel, but picture Palmolive instead of fruit flavoring. That was a real bummer, but I still drank 3/4 of the bottle because I could tell I was starting to dehydrate.

One part I liked about the course was a small little section that went down this windy bike trail. It was really challenging with the turns. It was kind of fun, but I like challenging trails... at least on my offroad motorcycle I do.

I just need more bike time and endurance. Maybe some strength, but I'm going to stick with endurance building for now.

I also think I need to take Gatorade in my water bottle next time and definitely clean the heck out of it after using soap.

I was ecstatic with my dismount. Thanks a million once again Ron for you're great article, Improving Your T2: The Dismount. It helped a ton and my practice paid off.

All I had to do was rack my bike and take my helmet off. I was all set for the running other than that. I took another swig of Gatorade, but I should have taken a bigger one I think. The only water aid station was at the just past halfway point on the run and all they had was water.

My transition splits weren't posted, but subtracting my swim/bike/run times from the overall gives me a total of 1:04 for both transitions. That seems pretty good from what I have seen.

Nothing really. I could probably try to move a little faster and get to know where I need to go for the running segment a little better. There was slight confusion on exiting the transition area.

The very first part of the run was weird. I think part of my foot from the toe back fell asleep from a vein that was probably being pinched from my bike seat. It felt like the insole of my right shoe had moved over to the left, but it was just the weird feeling in my foot. This went away the first 100 yards. It was extremely hard to get going. No rubber legs really, just freakin' tired. Really freakin' tired. So I was going to take the advice of Ron on my indtroduce myself posting and do an 8 min. run 2 min walk, but I was so tired on the first part, I started walking at 7:30. I did that for about 45 seconds and I was feeling pretty good so I started running again. I was feeling really good so I kept on going, not fast, but going. I get to the water station which was probably a little over half way and walked about 10 yards to it, and then another 20 yards away from it. I started running again and thought I might be able to keep on running. Then I get to a point where I definitley know how much distance is left in the race. A woman came up behind me at this point and I thought, "There's not that much running left. Let's pick up the pace a little and see if I can stay ahead." So I did. We were pushing pretty hard... well at least for me. I'm staying over as far as I can to the side thinking she might still pass me, but she doesn't. This was great, someone to push me to the finish. As we pass a few fans, they cheered me on, then said come on SuchAndSuch (respecting her privacy) you can take him. I think that was more help for me than her because I was really determined to not let her pass at that point. I really started kicking it in, even though I felt like I was going to colapse and throw up at the same time. A guy still managed to pass us like we weren't moving at the end. I actually managed to hold her off. I thanked her for pushing me. It was great. I probably would have been much slower if it weren't for her. I probably negative splitted because of this.

I'm blown away by my pace. I didn't expect to be breaking 9 minute miles on my first tri. That was very suprising. I'm guessing my run is going to be my second best section in the future.

I just need more endurance, and probably need more hydration at the T2 to cover better for the first half of the run.

Walked around and did some stretching.


Lack of endurance.


It's really not fair to judge this race too much since it's my first race, but I would have liked to have seen an additional drink station. Everything else was good for what I know. It was also a little uncomfortable having to go outside in the cool air in my swim suit for a pre-race meeting. Some people were actually wet from warming up.

Other than that, I feel like I had an awsome race for a first race. Nothing really went wrong. This was a great tri to start off with in my opinion. The course was marked really well and plenty of volunteers to point you in the right direction. I didn't have to stop either. The intersections were traffic controlled by the FMPD at several points. I don't know if this had to do with being towards the front of the pack, but it was nice. It was also nice to see parts of Flower Mound I haven't seen before.