Tri the Parks - Indian Springs State Park - TriathlonSprint

Felt pretty good - but got well off course at one point on the "back stretch". Came home strong and jogged uphill to the T.

I need to practice sighting more, and remember to raise my head more often. I also want to practice bilateral breathing to help with staying straight while swimming. I think some lessons may be in order -- I know I should be faster.

Well, I have no idea where I was for this long! Clearly out in space! I have to practice this and get a LOT faster. I honestly do not know what the heck I was doing all this time.

Practice Practice Practice

Starting with the novices at the back of the pack, I had the happy experience of passing lots of people and not constantly being passed (in fact, I was only passed twice, both times by people on the fancy tri bikes. I had a really good ride in a really big gear (for me) and in fact probably could have pushed a bit faster. On the whole, I'm very happy with the result. Had a nice rush of adrenaline seeing my family surprise me on the way out (wasn't expecting them to be there -- gave me a big smile).

I need to practice drinking and eating gu while pedaling hard. I can do drink while riding, but it slows me down a lot.

Now, that's more like it...

Again, I can run faster with the bike, but this was an okay transition.

Well, it was hotter and harder than I expected -- and I really needed to push myself harder. I need to put in some striding out during races. Also, I was too often distracted and not paying attention to the pavement and staying in my zone. I should be able to do better than 9 minute miles.

I need to block out the clutter of people, road, etc. -- stop looking around and focus on running and mechanics.

Did a lot of stretching, walking around, and ate a bit and drank lots. Chased my 2-year-old a bit and basked in the glow of my family's support. Even my mom (who being Canadian hates hot weather persevered).


While I'm obviously pretty far back in the pack, I am VERY happy with my performance -- I expected to finish around 1:35, and came in 1:29, so that's good. Of course, I can now see that I (of course) have lots of room and areas for improvement, starting with my training, strength training, and obviously, transitions! I take that all as good news, since I know that I can keep progressing onward and upward. So, I can now get back to work on the areas I need to improve, and keep on improving my fitness -- which was the goal to start with.


I thought this race was incredibly well-run and organized -- I was concerned about the huge group of participants and the possible traffic issues, but it ran like clockwork (at least to my eye). Very good support on the bike course in particular. I had a lot of fun, and of course got my great t-shirt (which is why I do these things anyway : ).