5430 Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was in the third wave and very anxious to get started. I took a kick to the head in the first 30 seconds, swallowed a ton of water and came up gasping for air. Scary stuff for a first timer. It took a few minutes to get calm enough to move forward. Once I got it together the rest of my swim was strong and I was smiling when I came out of the water. Jeff caught up with me and ran the trek from the beach to TA (I think about a minute and a half).

Hmmmmm ... it's tough getting through the first part of a swim when so many people hit the water at once. Sometimes you get kicked. It sucks but not much I could do about it.

Lots of room for improvement!

Leave my bike pump in the transition area.

Could the flat tire fairy please visit someone else for a change. I got my bike out of transition and looked down as I was mounting and realized I had a tire blowout. NO! NO! NO! Unfortunately it took me 16 minutes to gather my wits and get it taken care of. I would still be sitting on the side of the road feeling sorry for myself if it hadn't been for a young man named Bill who appeared out of no where. He had a leg brace and was supported by crutches and he said "Do you want to race or quit?" I want to race.

The good news is I did pretty dang good when I finally got on the course. My bike time would be 57:16 if I didn't have to count that 16 minutes and my final time would have been 1:49:28. I am very happy with that.

Reduce the tire pressure on hot days. Did I mention that I've been training in some severely cold weather this year and today Denver set a new record high of 97 degrees.

Lots of room for improvement!

I could tell my HR was a little high when I started this so I tried to slow down a little. I felt like I was running about an 11 min pace so I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was under 10. I'll take that on a hot day like today! Jeff and Kelly caught me on the last 1/4 mile and ran with me. I had a teeny tiny kick about the last eighth mile and left them in the dust (heh, heh).

I need to work on hydration. I was so concerned about not drinking enough that by the time I hit the run I had a sloshy stomach.

Water, banana and walking around. Oh my gosh it felt good to come across that finish line.


It was such an awesome day. My first triathlon and my daughter came out from Chicago to do it with me. We had sisters, grand-kids, nephews, daughters, all kinds of relatives lining the course to cheer for us. Jeff, my strength/core trainer from 24 Hour Fitness was there, Coach Mary and Coach Charley, lots of TNT friends, Beka and Kelvin, amazing support. My cup runneth over.