Health First Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

The first part of the swim went well. I swam to the buoy, albeit not very fast, with no problems. The buoy was blown around quite a bit so the tether caught my feet. Sighting for the next buoy was very difficult. I just followed the others and made it there eventually. I know the chop and waves blew me off course but I finally found the buoy and started back. After the second buoy I went WAY off course towards the shore and ended up having to swim probably an extra 100 yards to rejoin the course. The only good thing is that I wasn't the only one so I didn't feel so bad. I was last in my A.G. but I finished the segment! :) Goal #1 complete ~ and that was "Don't drown". Surprisingly, I was able to freestyle the majority of the way except when I would inhale water instead of air. To say the water was rough was an understatement. It was rough. My only complaint is the lack of buoys. It was very difficult to see the two buoys that were there so if they had 2 more it would have been great.

Swim training. Swimming is my weakest event and my time really shows. I find it hard to believe that people were able to swim this course in under 25 minutes but I guess it's possible. I need a swim coach. :(

This is always the longest transition for me. I prefer to wear socks so I dried my feet and put on my wicking socks. Everything went on smoothly and I was off from transition. I saw my son and dad cheering me on at the exit of transition which made my race seem that much more enjoyable. In hind-sight I could have skipped socks because it rained heavily during the bike so my socks were soaked. All in all, I had a pretty good transition.

Practice the transitions. Work on the flow of the transition so I can reduce the time it takes.

It was very windy on the bike. An easterly wind became a monster head wind going over the Pineda causeway and was an awesome pusher heading west over the Eau Gallie Causeway. On top of that it rained heavily after mile 10 - 25. It was exhilarating getting to 35mph coming down Eau Gallie cswy. My front wheel was buffeting around from the wind gusts but other than that I was flying! :)

More T>I>T>S. (Time in the saddle).

What can I say. Anything less than 1 minute is pretty good. I guess I could have done the run without shoes... NOT!

I did opt to use the hat v/s another sweat band. It worked out pretty good as opposed to using another sweat band. Everything was wet from the rain so the hat was the better choice.

Not much. I am pretty happy with my T2 time.

I ran fairly good but my pace wasn't anything to write home about. I did stop at the water stations and once going over the east-bound side of the causeway. The wind and the hill combined were too much for my tired legs. Once I crested the causeway I ran all the way to the end, the last water station, and started back. With the wind's assistance I was able to run over the causeway west-bound and then on to the finish line.

More base mile training.

lack of training. Disney TRI two weeks prior and then almost zero additional training before this race made for a poor performance. I need to be in better condition by setting and sticking to a regular exercise routine. Once I can do that I am sure my performance will get better.


Once again the volunteers helped make this race awesome. The only thing that could have been done better is more buoys on the swim course. I'll be back next year though. :)