Smith Falls Triathlon - Triathlon

My problems started right away... with my goggles fogging up. (I forgot my 'antifog'). And my wetsuit felt really tight on my neck, like it was choking me. I think I didn't pull the front up enough before I put my arms in. And I kept swimming off course to the right (not a new problem for me). I was all alone in my own little line so no drafting advantage for me. My lack of recent swim training was very evident.
The swim time also includes T1 - after leaving the water there is about a 80m run to the transition zone. I walked most of it just to get my heartrate down.

SWIM training ! Start at the left side of the pack to avoid straying off course to the right but more importantly train to correct this problem in the future. If the water is warmer go without the wetsuit for sprint races. Get new goggles and remember the antifog.

T1 time was included in the swim time.. I didn't rush but I'm sure wasn't more than 2 minutes. Had my biking clothes under wetsuit, pulled on another t-shirt (over tri top), bike shoes (no socks), helmut and sunglasses. Didn't wear biking gloves.

Wear my watch in swim so I can time my transitions.

Got clipped in and moving without incident, I'd planned to push a bit on the bike, but not full out as this was my first race and I wanted to be able to run well. I only started riding in March and usually average 13-14 on training rides so I'm really happy with my 16.9 mph average in this race. There is a point on this bike course where you cross a one lane bridge.. they told us about it at the pre-ace meeting and said it shouldn't cause a problem. Well of course I arrive at this spot just at the time that the course marshall decides to stop the bikers and let cars go through... we sat there for 2 minutes.. which he said would be credited to our time. I mentioned this to the race director after the race, who told me they had a list of race numbers for those who were stopped, but I see that my online time does not reflect that time. (It would move me up 2 places in my age group). I'm going to email them about it.
Other than the hold up the bike portion was uneventful. I used big gears for most of the race and was down on my drops.. I may be ready to get some aerobars.. I'll talk to my LBS about that.

Ride faster.

T2 time was included in run time. I did have trouble getting off my bike after I'd unclipped both feet.. my shorts got caught on the seat somehow but I managed to stay upright.

Not get my shorts caught on the seat.

It was still cool so this was an ok run. There were no mile markers... I would have worn my GPS if I'd known that. Didn't have much kick left at the end, but wasn't at the puke threshold either so probably could have run faster.

Run faster.

Did some stretching... cheered in the runners behind me.


I was my first tri and a learning experience. I need to do more focused swim training, and add some bike and run speedwork.


This was a great first tri... the bike and run were flat. The event was well organized. I'll do this one again