Bismarck Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

1st mass start OWS, 46 people 44 individuals & 2 team swimmers, Got clobbered at start. Kicked in face & goggles. drafted behind good swimmer for about 230 meters when he decided to Breast stoke caught good kick in the nose. had to side stroke for awhile. made the turn but lost my draft zig zagged into marker bouy. Kicked & swam as hard as I could. 1st time I had gone past lactate threshold swimming. The wetsuit made a huge difference. I did not worry one second about drowning or keeping my butt from dragging.

Practice more swimming, Work on getting out front to avoid the beating at the start. Learn to breath from both sides of my body. Drafted after the turn around also.

I was wheezing and had poor balance coming out of water, walked & slow jogged to bike rack, had problem pulling zipper down on wetsuit, dried of feet put on helmet, bike shoes, sun glass & bike jersey. At a chocolate
Gu washed it down with Gatorade. Jogged bike through the transition timer. Hopped on bike had problem snapping shoes into pedals.

Get to race early to grab a closer spot to race course, Probably could have saved 10 seconds, 3 steps in in road bike shoes compared to 10yards. Drink water instead of Gatorade. Work on getting out of wetsuit.

Had strong tail wind leaving transition area. Passed several riders, After turn around, started to day dream. Woke up when I saw Relay team rider catching me fast.

Work on bike setup. Cannot get enough air leaning over aero-bar, Rode on very front part of my seat.

Ran without socks,

Get closer position to the race course. Even though I really wasn't very far from the closest position to the course realizing your farthest away stinks.

Ran hard to pass 4 runners ahead of me. Passed them slowed back down to comfortable pace. Got discouraged when I saw leader coming in to far ahead to close gap. Really got discouraged when I saw Relay team runner who I thought I could pass was M.J. who I had only beaten once in my life. Ran steady until Mario's girlfriend yelled Go Mario Go. Had to kick it down & suffer for last 3 hundred yards HRM rate 184 when I looked down.

Try to keep up pace even when field is spread out. Need to work on speed that I've lost over nine years of inactivity.

Walked Jogged over to water aid station. Put gear into car. Drove to Rhame to work.


Over tired after swimming so hard. Bike position made hamstring & gluts really tired for run. Need more training but can only increase slowly so far.


Lots of beginners at race. Course well marked by Dennis K of Frontier Precision, http://www.frontierprecision.com/,Course well sheltered & flat. Even though this is my first Triathlon I am guessing this is a great course to go for a PR on. Narrow sheltered bay for swimming, small transition area, roads smooth & flat.