Telos Turkey Tri - TriathlonMini Sprint

I feel much better about the swim this year than last. I was only passed once (by a BYU swimmer), and managed to pass 5-6 people. It's hard to swim off the bike, but I managed to stay pretty relaxed. The pace wasn't overly fast, though.

I cycle in a very aggressive position, which puts a little more strain on my arms. It probably would have been beneficial for me to add a few spacers to the stem for this race. I felt like my arms were tired from the start.

The transition from Run to Bike was ok. I lost about 20 seconds to the top guy in my AG. I just didn't really focus enough mentally.

Focus. Lay everything out better before the race, and know exactly what to do. Part of the problem is that I had the best spot in transition at the beginning of the race, and had my stuff laid out to the side of the racks, but some latecomers came in and put their bikes on the ground next to it, so I wasn't able to get in as planned.

This course has too many turns and hills to be a fast one for me. I do best when I have a lot of flat straight course, where my extra weight doesn't matter as much. Still, I managed to come in 4th overall on the bike. But I won't be happy until I'm putting in the best split of the day. I think I'm capable of doing it with just a bit more work.



I held back too much on the first lap, thinking I'd feel out the course, then go all out on the second. This was a serious mental error. On the second lap, the course was so crowded, I could really only ride it at 80-90% speed. This may have cut a few minutes off of what I could have done. I'll pay more attention to this next time.

I got the shoes off before I came in on the bike and jumped right off of the bike well but stepped right onto a small, sharp rock that hurt my foot a bit, so I kind of limped into transition.

I knew that I was a little behind where I wanted to be in this race, so I tried to hurry, but just ended up fumbling through things again. I tried to get the helmet off before the gloves, and struggled. It felt like I took for ever to get my shirt off for the swim. And I made the worst mistake that I could have: I FORGOT MY GOGGLES!!!!! About 30 seconds out of my transition area, I realized this and had to turn back. In all, I would guess that I lost somewhere between 1:00 and 1:30 due to this. In the mean time, 6-7 people passed me. I felt like a complete idiot.

Think things through in advance better. I have gotten to the point where a typical transition is more or less automatic, but with the reverse order and the cold weather, I should have known better and focused more.

I wasn't really feeling it today on the run. I felt pretty good at the first, but mostly because I was going downhill. My head was throbbing and my HR was in the right zone, so I kept pace. The course was a little bit short, so my average time was really right around 6:54, according to the Garmin. This is a solid minute slower than I ran last Saturday, before I got sick, and I wasn't racing then. Still, I felt much better than I did earlier this week. Still, I should be able to do this pace AFTER the bike.

Not much. I probably could have pushed the first downhill part a little harder at the top of Z4, but it may have made the hill more difficult.

I stayed by the pool and helped participants out of the water. There wasn't a ladder at the end, and some people were really having a hard time pulling themselves up. They probably could have used a few more volunteers for the race.


My physical effort wasn't bad, but my head just wasn't in the game today. Lack of mental focus during the run, bike and transitions caused me to lose at least a couple of minutes. I need to not take the next tri so lightly.


The race was well organized last year. This year, they added chip timing, which was the only complaint I had. This is a fun end of season event.