5430 Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This was the worst openwater swim experience I've ever had, and I'm still not sure what went wrong. I started in the second row, like I always do, but I had women knocking me around from both sides. I think I got totally boxed in on all sides and I couldn't get free. I had to throw some serious elbows and kick and shove some chick on my left who was all over me. I've never had to get that aggressive before. After all that angst, I was pretty wound up, short of breath,my form went to crap, and then came the waves from all the boats. I looked to up sight several times to be greeted with an over-the-head wave and got a good face-full of water. I never felt like I could get into a rythym until after the first turn. Then I was finally able to get away from those women and actually swim. The rest of the swim was fine (other than having to swim over the stragglers from the last several waves). Swam to the shore until my hand touched the bottom, then ran up the beach to transition.

Maybe I'm at the point where I should just get in the front row and duke it out with the fast girls. I told my coach that I wanted to work on longer sprints to simulate fast swim starts, so we'll see how it goes.

Maybe I should take up martial arts to defend myself better out there!

Considering what happened out there, my time wasn't THAT bad. I think I must have really pulled it together in the last half and salvaged what could have been a disasterous swim.

My transition spot was pretty much as far away from the swim in and the bike out areas as it could possibly be, so I was prepared to have to run for a while to get there. Took my wetsuit off, helmet and glasses on, and I was off. Shoes were on the bike and I was planning on doing a running mount. I get out of transition and it was a mob scene at the mount line. Holy crap, I've never seen so many people trying to get on bikes at the same time. Basically, it was all the really slow older women from the waves in front of me. I think I was yelling "move move move!!!" but I don't remember. But I know I was yelling. Couldn't do the running mount, so I just got on my bike and weaved through the people STANDING there on the mount line. I used rubber bands to keep my shoes in the right position on my pedals for my mount. Note to self - don't use rubber bands in a race that you've never practiced with. They were WAY too stretchy and when I started pedaling, the rubber bands didn't break! CRAP!! I had to reach down and rip the rubber bands off! Then I was finally able to get my feet in my shoes. That probably cost me about 10 seconds. I wasn't too upset about it. I just thought it was funny!!

Make sure to use rubber bands that will actually BREAK when I start pedaling! Other than that and the throng of idiots at the mount line, the transition went smoothly.

The theme of this bike segment mimics the scene at the mount line. I spent the entire ride dodging a lot of older, SLOOOOOW women. I don't think I've ever seen so many bottlenecks out on that course before. I've never seen so many people riding too far to the left or coasting down hills either. Come on people - it's a race! If I had a buck for every time I said "on your left" I'd be rich. So that was frustrating.

I pretty much hammered this course. My legs felt great, heart rate was under control, and I made sure that I stayed focused and pushed myself the whole time, and never slacked at all. I beat my goal time for this segment despite the rubber band issues and the bottlenecks and slow people, so I'm happy. I would love to know how fast I could have gone on an uncrowded course!

Not much.

Took my feet out of my shoes at just the right time as I was riding into the dismount line. Running dismount went perfectly, and the run to my transition spot wasn't too long. I got to the rack and some idiot woman had so nicely draped her freaking wetsuit right over where I needed to slide my rear wheel. I grabbed that wetsuit and flung it FAR away. I have no idea where it landed. Helmet off, started putting on the running shoes and I had trouble getting them on-they were getting stuck on my heels. There was a guy who was filming the race and he's filming a closeup of me putting on my shoes! I guess that made me nervous (he was pretty close to me) or something. IT took me about 10 seconds too long to get those shoes on. Grabbed my visor and number and started the run.

Not sure. I normally don't have problems sliding my shoes on.

Not the run I wanted to have. Not even close. I could make a ton of excuses, but I think primarily my head got in the way. I know I'm capable of better, but I need to learn to shut off my head that's telling me I'm gonna die and trust my body and let it do its thing.

Mental toughness on the run is my biggest limiter. My mind needs to believe in what my body CAN DO. I asked my coach for some books I should read, so I'll start working on that.

Got my post race water from Shannon, walked around, ate some food, talked to my BT friends. It was great to see pretty much every triathlete I know out there today - everyone did a great job!


My own little inner voice who tries to tell me I need to slow down or I'll die or something :)


This is my third time doing this race, and it gets better every year. So well organized, great volunteers, great venue, etc. It's no wonder it sells out so quickly every year.