Culpepper Sprint - TriathlonSprint

First race. It was horrible. It tacked like a drunk sailor and was all over the place and there has got to be an easy way to pass people. They see you coming and either cut you off or swim harder to prevent you from going around. Need to learn the OWS crowd basics or cut my time in half and swim in the elite section.

Put out harder. Took it way to easy on the swim. Look where you are going more often. Look up to find the buoy and instead found a kayak wondering where I was going. (I had about made it to the middle of the lake)

Couldn't find my bike at first then it took forever to get it out of the rack because the bike next to mine had fallen over and they were tangled. Need to get a cycling shirt to swim in. Throwing on a t-shirt while still wet was interesting.

Cycling shirt. Ditch socks for the short races. Will decide that after I run/bike without them a little. Practice transitions at home, swim at pool then bike around block. swim 100y/bike .25 miles... over and over.

Very interesting on the MTB. You would think the MTB would excel at the hills but the rolling friction on the MTB as compared to the road bike was very much apparent. Received lots of compliments on the MTB participation.
ROAD TIRES. It was very obvious that the knobby tires affected performnce. It was like taking a monster truck to a drag race. I hit an average of 22-24mph on the downhills but I didn't maintain the momentum like the road bike did.
WATER. I bought a new cage for my water bottle. Tried it on the race. It SUXS. Getting rid of it. It looks cool and all but you have to yank the damn thing out of the cage. It was such a pain that I just quit drinking. Felt it later on too.

Not change, add or try new things on a race.
New cage was a pain and the Propel I bought cheap at the grocery store made ny stomach upset. Last place you want to be trying stuff out is on a race. I know better. It was very stupid of me.

Bike to run transition needs practiced. There is no reason I couldn't have been out of the area in under a minute. I had my running shoes on since I don't have clipless pedals.
I about made it out and realized I forgot my race number belt. Had to go back. Need to practice so I am not going through the checklist in my head and am just doing what I alway do.

Lay stuff out better. Thought doing everything from the race bag would work. Forgot stuff and it took time to dig stuff out. Seconds matter.

Walked a bunch in the beginning. Had to. The legs were wobbly from the bike and going up hill was out of the question. About 1 mile into the run everything came together and I picked up lots of speed. I finished out strong. My shin splints had not fully healed yet so towards the end I was getting what I like to call the banjo effect. Each hit felt like someone was plucking the tendons in my shins like a banjo. The new shoes saved the day. It is amazing what fitted shoes will do to make things better.

Practice the bike to run transition until I die. There is no reason for it to take so long for the legs to get back to normal after the bike. Biggest physical failure. I had saved just enough to burn up the run yet couldn't because the legs weren't working.

Walked. Ate oranges. Walked. Drank Gatorade. Walked. Drove home.


Lack of experience. Lack of transition practice and not used to doing one sport after another.



Culpepper did a good job. Only 1 issues. They blocked the way out that would take you back the way you came and to a known freeway. I was lucky to figure out how to get home. If not allowing people to go back the way they came then there needs to be people or signs directing you back to known roads.