North Shore Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I tried to start near the right front of the pack. For the most part, this worked out. I drafted off of some people for a bit until I heard yelling. We were way off course...the lifeguards were trying to get us back on course. So, I had to get back on course, and then decided that I wasn’t going to draft for the rest of the way. I had to do some breast stroking as I rounded the first buoy due to congestion. It was pretty free swimming after that point. This swim time included a run up the beach. It was kind of mean to include it in the swim time. But hey, all of our times look slow, right? Saw my family, and gave them the thumbs up sign.

I need to work on my open water swimming skills. Specifically, sighting and remembering to actually settle down enough to swim during the race!

Not so smooth. I was tired from the run up the beach, and had difficulties putting on my ankle brace and my race belt. My dad yelled, “how you feeling”, and I yelled “tired!” He has a great picture of my sort of sticking my tongue out as I was saying this.

I checked my belt the night before, but not the morning of my race. Now I'm going to be super paranoid.

This was good ride for me. I got my HR down, and then tried to push my legs, but started to feel queasy. My legs could take more, and my HR was fine, but my stomach wasn’t having any of it. So, I backed off a bit. I almost crashed at one point. A guy had lost his water bottle on one of the turns, and he was stopped right in the middle of the path…with his bike sideways…blocking a lot of the road!. The guy in front of me slammed on his breaks and went to the left, and I ended up going to the right of the whole fiasco. At the time, I thought it was funny. Now, I’m a little irritated that the guy who dropped his stuff wasn’t more considerate. Oh well. I actually got to jockey a bit for positioning on this ride. That was fun. Wish I would do that more!

I don't know. Maybe more swim-bike bricks.

Speedy transition for me :). I had a good position on the bike rack.

Nothing.

Well, here’s where I try to close my eyes as everyone and their grandma passes me. It wasn’t so bad this time! Not as many people passed me. I even passed a couple of people! I know, I was shocked too! I tried to keep a steady pace for the first half, and then pick it up the second half. Mentally, it was fun to keep telling myself to push. For once, I didn’t have enough energy to sprint to the end. But, I think I finished strong. This was a PR for me :).

I look like Richard Simmons when I run. Picture a very exuberant aerobics instructor prancing. I need to change that. Or not. It seems to amuse people.

Found my family. Talked with some friends. Got my beer stein...cool hardware, huh?


My ankle, and I'm still learning how to be efficient.


My goal was to better my time from last year (check), push myself (check), and still manage to have fun (check). I'm a happy camper.