Buffalo Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

Boy it was cold. Without a wetsuit, I was pretty chilly, but made it. I spent the first 2 minutes swimming with my head above water. Every few strokes, I would put my face in the water and start to hyperventilate and panic. Not typical of my swim skills. Overall, I guess I was pretty pleased with my time. My goggles also fogged up making the sighting a little difficult.

More OWS and continue to tell myself not to panic in cold water. Try some suggested techniques beside spit to keep goggles fog-free.

There was quite a run up the hill into the transition area. I remembered right away where my bike was. Everything went very smoothly. I took an extra puff of my asthma inhaler, which helped with the bike.

I knew it was going to be hilly, and hills are my nemesis. I pushed as hard as I could, especially when I had a downhill right before the uphill. I think 3 hills really killed me, where I was averaging less than 10mph up them. Alternating standing/staying seated seemed to help. I even rocked the granny gear for some of the hills. I was frustrated with some of the riders who didn't move over. I also tried to pass a woman, and she would not fall back and kept speeding up. I told her verbally that she has to fall back and she looked angry, but clearly did not know the drafting rules. Because of the hills, I had a hard time getting my breathing under control. Biking is usually much more muscle fatiguing that cardiovascular for me, except for when there are hills. Yikes!

Practice more hills. Become more comfortable shifting between my different rings in the front of the bike.

The volunteers kept yelling at me to slow down, but I continued pretty fast up to them at the mat and passed 3 people very quickly. I unclipped down the hill into the transition and everything went smoothly.

I was really impressed with my time, since I have not been running a lot and don't seem to break a 10:00minute mile on my own, but with all the excitement (despite cramps in my calves), I drop 40 seconds off my per minute pace. This tells me that I need to start push my running a bit more. My heart rate was above 178 the entire run, so I really put my A game forward.

Run more! Run Hills! Run tempo runs! Run Intervals! Run!!!!

faked out the volunteer with a dry heaving incident across the finish line. Walked a round, drank and ate some snacks.


Had some trouble getting my breathing under control. I need to look into different ways to manage my asthma.


This was a very well organized event. There were many volunteers and it really had a small town feel. I was hoping that I could finish in under 1 hour 30 minutes, and I met my personal goal. Can't wait to do it next year (hopefully with a wetsuit). Sorry I didn't get to introduce myself to any BT'ers. See you at the Minneman.