The Day at the Beach Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This was my first "open water" race, as a matter of fact I was terrified of any water in June when I signed up for this...mid life crisis, exercise is better than all of the other possibilities. I trained at the YMCA with the masters swim, I couldn't swim 25 yards on June 12th. My coach kept encouraging me and I didn't give up. I did a couple of "test" ocean swims before race and the clinic, which was a big help.

Swimming 500 in a pool does not equal 1/4 mile swim. I got kicked a couple of times, which freaked me out and I floated for a couple of minutes by the time I passed the first bouy I was almost last. I knew I was not going to give up, too much pride and alot of supporters cheering me on. I made it to the final bouy and headed to shore. This is where I wished I knew HOW to body surf. I never seemed to be able to get my breathing or stroke under control. In the end it was just about getting to the shore, and not scare my wife and kids who were watching. I wasn't the last one out of the water but boy did I hurt.

OK I thought this would be easier than it was. I really was struggling to catch my breath from the swim and then run up the sand. When I got to my stuff I felt a little dizzy and had heard of other people eating it on the bike due to lightheadedness. I backed off and got my bearings.

I figure that more swim training may help with the dizzyness, which will improve this time.

After I got comfortble on the bike, I had been training on a Mt Bike, but got a deal on a used OCR3 and made a switch. I think if I get more comfortable on it I wil do better

bike shoes and better pedals might also help.

I think I could be faster on this with practice, also I went back to my spot for water.

Just keep going.

Nice flat course, well marked. I will need to train more in this area. I ended up walking part of the course, cramp in left calf at mile 1, once it released I could keep running. I finished really strong, almost had too much left at the end

Better stretching more training on my running

Walk and stretch, lots of water hugging my kids alot.


Better swimming, not loosing concentration when getting kicked in the water.


Great race for a first-timer like me. Course layout and structure was good. Bike course was a little narrow, three laps was somewhat an issue due to merging traffic coming in off the hill.