Max Performance Triathon Series Race #1 - TriathlonMini Sprint

This was an indoor pool swim with 8 50-yard laps. Swimming is generally my weakest link, but due to the cold, all I could think about during the run and bike segments was getting to the warm pool.

I kept a nice solid and steady pace throughout the swim and generally pleased with my swim performance.

This is where my overall time went out the window. The bike portion of the race had me a little scared due to the temps. I fumbled around way too long putting on my shoes, which I neglected loosen before the race and were virtually frozen stiff by the time I got to T1. Then I wasted even more time putting on shoe coveres.

SUCK IT UP! I would have had my shoes open and on my pedals so I could grab my bike and go.

Entering T1, I could tell that not many people had yet hit the bike course. However, by the time I'm leaving T1 a significant amount of the bikes were gone. Wasted way too much time screwing around with the shoes and shoe covers for a short race.

I did a good job of sighting the person in front of me and picking them off, then finding the next target. I did a decent job closing the gap I created in T1, but the course was just way too short to be able to overcome any mistakes. However, I felt fairly good with my overall position based upon the fact that I was pretty close to the turn around point before any of the lead riders past me heading back to T2.

Nothing

This transition was much better than the first. I racked the bike, yanked my shoes off and ran to the pool area, where I stripped down to my tri-shorts off to the water.

I lost a little bit off time here due to my T1 mistakes, due to having to unzip my shoes covers to be able to pull my shoes off. Otherwise, I was fairly happy with T2.

I ran this portion of the race with Mark (per6594) who is great pacer for me. We went out strong and I knew that maintaining the pace would be a challenge, but I was able push through and felt good once I steadied my breathing.

I was very pleased with my physical efforts in this race. However, I allowed the cold to get in my way in terms of planning my transitions and lost a ton of time due to that, especially in T1.


I could have easily talked myself out of this race because of the cold, but I'm really glad that I did it. I'll hopefully learn from my transition mistakes. Regardless, this race was a ton of fun.