Fort Collins Club Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Again, this really became my warm-up. I have been swimming since I was 6 (22 now), so it is second-nature to me. I haven't swam in the last 4 years, and started with a Masters program a month before my race.

I was more worried about being passed by other swimmers, but that didn't become an issue. The swimmer ahead of me took a wrong turn (didn't make it under the lane line), so I moved past him and cruised the rest of the swim trying to conserve energy. I was pleased with this as my swimming background is as a sprinter, and nowhere near a distance swimmer.

This race is held again Sept. 9th, and I plan to be the first out of the water.

Well, this is where anyone watching could tell I had never actually done a triathlon before. I don't have bike shoes, so I wore my running shoes. As I was scrambling around before the event for goggles I didn't have much time to prepare my transition area.

I had to sit down to put my socks on. I forgot to tie my shoes ahead of time, so they needed to be tied. The handle bars of my bike got stuck on the bar and I had to maneuver to get them loose. As I start to head out a photographer who happened to be standing next to me reminds me to bring my helmet, so I stop, balance my bike against my legs and put the helmet on. I think the only thing that went smoothly was putting on my glasses and my jersey.

Many things. I plan to have bike shoes for my next race, and also don't plan to be wearing socks. My running shoes will either be tied ahead of time, or I'll get some of those quick tie laces.

I have very little biking experience. I bought my road bike a month before this event and mostly road it to and from work, which is only a 2.5mile ride. I took a couple 45-60min. rides and that was the extent of my training. My bike has 28mm tires on it, so I borrowed my friend's 23s for the race and I think that made a difference. We actually swapped the wheels (which I've never done before and my friend wasn't around to help), so that made me nervous. The chain was squeaky in some gears, but I tried to ignore it and hoped it didn't bother the other racers.

I pushed the bike part of the course really hard. I basically planned to exhaust myself and figured I could walk if necessary for the run, or at least run very, very slowly. I was pleased with how far I could push myself on the bike and still be able to complete the run.

I have gotten much better on a bike just by riding more often and for longer amounts of time. I think this will naturally improve this segment in my next race.

This was a really easy transition for me because I only had to take my helmet off. My transition area was at the opposite end of where the bike segment started, but right next to where the run started. I hooked my bike over the bar, threw my helmet on the ground and took off.

The next race will require me to put shoes on, and hopefully I will be able to accomplish this task without falling over. Indeed, I shall need to practice this transition.

My calves began to cramp just as I began running, but taking it slow and lightly shaking them out got rid of that quickly and I was back in action after a minute or so.

I did a couple seasons of cross country back in high school, but never really accomplished amazing feats with it. This will be a long road to improvement.

There was no 1-mile mark, so I didn't know my pace for a short while. I didn't even know they were marking the course until I saw the 2-mile mark. By that time I was thinking, "Well, great. I know my 2-mile time, but I only have a mile and change to go." It didn't occur to me later that I could have divided the current time in half (I started my watch just as I got onto the run), and thusly discovered my pace.

Moral of the story: Think more while running.

I did some light stretching, walked around a little while talking with some friends who had come to see my race, and ate a few bits of banana. Also realized there is a muscle in my buttox that I was unaware was even there, but was somehow very sore.


I only had a month of training going into this and in the last 4 years had only done some rock climbing for exercise. It's very good exercise, but doesn't really build your endurance anywhere but your forearms.

I also didn't know how I was going to feel during each segment and wasn't sure how hard I could push myself. I definitely held back during the swim, and just ran to finish.


It's a really good race if you are starting out. At least, it was for me. I got the feeling there was quite a large number of people doing this as their first triathlon.

Again, the first mile on the run wasn't marked and that certainly should have been. There was one water station on the run, which some may complain about but I didn't even use it so there was more than enough for me.

The same race is held again in the fall which gives you a really good opportunity to see how much you have improved during the ensuing months of training.

All-in-all it was a fun race, and I will be back for the one in the fall!