Danskin Women's Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

We had little pep talk from Sally Edwards at the start which was fun. Even though I had practiced mass starts with Team Danskin Training, it was still a bit of a shock to be kicked, run over, and bumped constantly. I got stuck behind a few people doing breaststroke and couldn't figure out how to get past their frog kicks. I finally just went between two of them and caught a foot in my face a couple of times. I settled in drafting a few people but then got impatient and passed them. I also got passed plenty. I tried to keep to the inside of the course, perhaps too much so, as I felt sometimes that I was swimming too far inside the buoy line (right next to the lifeguards) and had to correct my course to get around the buoys on the outside. I cut my turns really close to the buoy and used a little roll-to-backstroke-roll-to-freestyle trick that I learned in a tri swim clinic. I have no idea if it helped with my turn (I think it did) but it was fun to do. Other than that, I did freestyle the whole time and managed to get into a good rythm. Overall, I was happy with my time.

I need to do some swim clinics where I can have someone critique my stroke and help me fix it. I need to learn to rotate my shoulders and hips better - that wasn't how I learned to swim and it's hard for me to "roll" while swimming. Until I get that fixed, there's nothing I would have done differently except maybe stay a little more outside the course so I didn't have to "overcorrect" to get around the buoys.

I came out of the water and walked to my bike. I should have ran but I was trying to conserve energy and just get my bearings a bit. It was my first triathlon and I wasn't really worried about my time so I just moseyed up to my transition area and started to clean my feet, put on socks and bike shoes etc. After a while, I finally looked up and realized everyone I had come into the transition area with was gone and I thought "this IS A RACE, get GOING!" I then ran my bike out of the transition area and jumped on.

Not act like I was going for a leisurely Sunday recreation ride while I was in T1. I would have ran to the transition area from the swim and moved a lot faster getting ready to get on the bike. I had my stuff really organized and could have gotten out of there much faster but I was just lazing about for some reason. I had no wetsuit to remove so I should have been one of the faster people transitioning.

I had a GREAT bike! I knew this was the one area that I could really make up some time and I went all out the entire time. I knew the course well as I ride there often, I managed to drink plenty of water and gatorade and I didn't let myself get frustrated by the short "no passing zone" at the beginning and end. I was lucky that I was in Wave 7 of the swim as there weren't too many people on the bike course when I started. At the end of the bike course, there was a bottleneck of people thru the no-passing zone and I practically had to walk my bike. But there was nothing I could do about that so I just enjoyed the other parts of the course where I could go as fast as I wanted. I probably turned around a bit too fast, I knew I could do it but I think I made some other riders a bit nervous as I turned. It was great having so many people be so encouraging - one girl and I sort of paced each other for a while and later, someone else told me they were trying to keep up with me the entire time and that I was her "inspiration" during the ride. That was great to hear!

Nothing.

The transition area was too crowded to really run with the bike or to jump off while it was moving. I did pay attention to my time and tried to get out of T2 faster than T1. I was lucky in that my bike rack was right next to the run start so I changed shoes, took off my helmet, put on my race number and went.

I had bought a race belt that my number didn't really fit on. The space between the holders on the race belt was much longer than the space between the holes on my number. I didn't think it was a big deal until I went to put my race belt on and it stretched and the number went flying off. It had torn right thru the holes on my number so I had to re-attach it using the bottom holes and try putting it on without stetching it again. It was kind of annoying as I had bought the race belt to SAVE TIME and I had to fiddle with it during T2. I think I will just safety pin the number to the race belt next time.

I have never been a runner so this was the hardest part for me. I also went all out on the bike figuring my run was going to be terrible regardless of whether or not I "saved" something for it. So my legs were tired, it was hot, and the sun was blazing. But the monarch butterflies were migrating and it was great seeing so many of them on the course, and all of my Team Danskin teammates were cheering me on so I enjoyed it despite my terrible time. I poured ice cold water over my head at each water station which helped with the heat (it wasn't that hot out - it just felt hot during the run). And the finish line chute was awesome, I pushed myself as much as I could to do the last half mile or so without walking at all.

Not walk? I doubt I could run the entire thing although I had run 3 miles without wallking during training. But during the run, I had to walk a minute or so occasionally to catch my breath and because my legs were burning. There's really nothing I could have done differently considering my current state of fitness and run-ability.

Didn't really warm-down although I should have. I met my brother and sister at the finish line and we hugged and took pictures and chatted. I eventually made my way to the bannanna table and had a bannanna, cold water and a couple of donut munchkins.


My swim technique needs a lot of work before I can increase my swim speed. My complete lack of ability to run really killed my time. I need to work on increasing my training run distances and speed.


This was a WONDERFUL first triathlon for me. I loved the fact it was on Sandy Hook, a favorite work-out place of mine, and I will probably do it again next year just because of that. I loved my Team Danskin Training Group - the practice mini-tri really helped me prepare for race day. I can't say enough good things about this race!