Mountain Man Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

I stayed on the left side of the pack, probably swam an extra 50-100 meters altogether but never hit or got hit by anyone (important since I wear contacts under the goggles). I found my rhythm right away, breathed well, had no problem sighting bouys, and started passing people pretty quickly. Found no one to draft off.

Half way through the swim I caught up with the rear end of the wave in front of us and felt really good. No problem getting out of the water, except the pebbles hurt my feet. Turns out I have a deep cut under my right foot, didn't even notice it until I got home and took running shoes off. It might have already happened at the start because I slipped on the rocks as I got into the water.

Nothing. I really, really enjoyed the swim. After all the problems I had read about that people have with the swim I was expecting something unpleasant--compared to the pool. Instead I just cruised and finally woke up. By the time I got out of the water I was all fired up and just a bit chilled which was great. The last weeks of training were always borderline hot on the bike and run. This was a nice change. The shorts and top stayed wet the whole race and kept my core cool.

Felt good, had never done this transition before, not even in training. Everything came off and went on quickly and before I had even caught my breath I was on the bike. I did take the time to take a sip of water since my throat felt dry after the swim--which told me I had gone fast and not swallowed water. Running in the bike shoes out of the transition area wasn't a problem after all. I had had nightmares about slipping and falling...

Nothing, didn't eat or anything since I had the shot blocks on the bike. It was nice to have the extra towel to dry my wet feet, didn't need to wash them since it wasn't sandy.

Looking at the time though I should have been a minute faster or so... Maybe less talking with the kids next time.

I just passed everyone! Don't know where the speed came from, maybe because I was cold. But I just flew. My HR was definitely up and the breathing felt like going uphill but I felt fine and kept the gears in the big ring the whole ride and never felt the burn in my legs. The whole ride went by so quickly and I felt great, had to remind myself to drink but didn't feel like eating at all. In fact, it was hard to even get the water down, that's how hard I was going.

Nothing. Much faster than I expected. I guess it helped that I had done this ride multiple times during training and knew the course really well.

Went as planned, smoothly and quick. Don't even remember much about this transition. But again, running with bike into transition wasn't a problem.

Nothing. Maybe learn to ride with feet on shoes but then I'd have to run in my socks in the transition area and then...cut my feet again!?

Had to walk 3 or 4 times because I had cramps in my right lower side ("stitches"). Did I go too fast on the bike? Maybe. But the run would have sucked no matter how slow I could have gone on the bike. I don't go much faster in training either... I really have to focus on running in my training now.

Run more in preparation. I have all winter before the next Mountain Man and 16 weeks till my next race.

Stumbled back to bike to get jacket. My HR goes down so quickly and I get cold right away. Plus my tri shorts and top were still wet from the swim. I drank a bottle of water, still couldn't eat anything. Then hung out with the Phx kids and waited for the Olympic racers to come in.


Adequate training for the run! I just started running in March. I have swum my whole life and picked up biking again last summer, got a trainer in January and thus had a better base. By the time I decided to do a tri in April I only had three months to bring up my running. Not enough obviously. It'll be the focus of my training from now on.


I waited around the finish area for the awards ceremony to see who the women in my age group were who placed...and then they read my name! I got 3rd in my first tri! Yippee. Now I'm hooked.