Columbus International Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

Swim start was kind of cool. Everyone lined up by race number and every 3-5 seconds, someone ran in the water and started swimming. Beautiful and clear lake. Traffic stayed fairly light even though the Olympic swimmers started first and were starting another lap while I was swimming. I didn't have any problem with panic or breathing, but I did have some trouble sighting and I swam more of a zig zag than a straight line.

Practice-practice-practice!
Drills-form-endurance-OWS - practice it all more!

Long run from lake to T1 - So long that the split the transition into Run time (2:04) and T1 time (3:54) Took my time in T1. Sat down, made sure my feet were nice and dry and got my stuff together. Much better organized than last race. Disappointed in my time - I was really lots slower here than I expected to be. Really need to focus on this next race.



Move my butt!

Great bike for me. When I finished the first loop, I knew I was going to be able to PR this bike course. Last race was a PR for me at 16mph. I was at 16.5 for the first loop and ended up over 17. No question I went too hard on the bike and didn't have enough left for the run. I passed a couple people early on and several more on the other laps. Since the Olympic riders had 5 laps, I got passed quite a bit also, but we won't talk about that.... I passed a few myself! ;)

I tried to drink as much as I could, but I'm just about sick of Gatorade and I couldn't stomach more than ~10 oz. Only drank ~6 oz water. The funny thing is that I thought about taking a gel which would have helped, but I didn't want to slow down to get one. That's not very smart.

NEED TO DRINK!!!

Walked my bike in and sucked down a gel trying to make up for my lack of nutrition on the bike. Uneventful.

Nothing

I did take the time to drink both Gatorade and water on the run course. I'd take two cups of water, drink from one and dump the other over my head. Legs were stiff and unresponsive out of transition. Really struggled through the first mile. Finally got a song in my head that helped make the legs move a little easier. (Uncle Kracker - Follow Me) The last mile was not so bad, but the whole run felt like it went on forever! I think having the Garmin set to show me splits every half mile helps keep me focused and motivated to move. It made a difference not having it today. (That's my story and I'm sticking with it!)

I just don't know.

Drank a couple bottles of water. Had some grapes and a banana. Stretched ALOT. Cooled down and had a burger and a bagel. I was starving!


Me. But I'm getting better. :)


Very scenic and fun race. I've been hearing about this race for a couple of years and was happy to finally be able to do it.