My First Tri Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I just started swimming a few weeks ago, so I'm very happy with what I was able to do today. Since the broken clavicle two years ago, freestyle has been impossible. So for me to get out there and take a minute off last year's swim time (all breastroke last year), plus beat my buddy Sylvia in (who has been swim training this whole year!) just makes me ecstatic!

Certainly more swim time would help, but I'm still happy with my effort considering the last surgery was only six weeks ago!

Had to run a fairly long distance from the water to my bike, but the transition went pretty smoothly. No problems!

Forgot to loosen the straps on my bike shoes, but I still slipped them on fairly easily.

The bike leg was mostly wonderful! Started out clean and felt really good. Passed lots of folks (and got passed by some too). That's a big difference between last year and this year. I was a first timer last year, but on a decent bike so I passed a lot of racers. The first timers start in the later waves. But this year I started in wave 3 with all of the alumni women, and it was definitely more competitive. I've just started using aero bars since I was cleared by my doctor to ride about 3-4 weeks ago, and they made a lot of difference. And with such a short bike ride, I didn't really need to worry about conserving energy. So I mostly went all out, and am happy with most of my ride. However, I did make a rookie mistake at the end. Approaching the dismount area, I uncleated but continued to pedal a bit more. I didn't realize that my left foot had attached again, so when I put the brakes on, over I went! So now I'm on the ground and "the crowd is groaning" -- well, mostly in my head. :) The timer guy did start to run over to me, but I assured him I was ok. I was mostly afraid that if he helped me I'd be DQ'd! So I picked my bleeding self up and said "suck it up, buttercup!".

Check to make sure I really was uncleated?

Mostly tried to ignore the blood running down my leg. Put my running shoes on and squirted some water on my leg, then took off.

Keep my head?

By this time it was really hot, and this was my downfall last year. But I was amongst the "fast girls" this time (I'm talking about running fast -- get your mind out of the gutter!), and they were so encouraging -- looking good Cheri, let's go for it! So it was a good run. Not a breath of air, and every step was a struggle. But I'm really working on the mental thing, and it really worked today -- you know -- I can do this for five more minutes, don't even think about walking, that's not why you are here, you've overcome much more than this, etc, etc, etc. And the biggest thing is that it was only 2.5 miles -- anyone can do that! So I did it, and I'm happy, and I finished!

I still haven't figured out how to hydrate during the run. Gotta work on that in order to up my distances!

Went to the medical area to get my leg tended to. They asked if I wanted to go out and run, and I told them that I had already finished! :)


Overall I had shaved 5:25 off my time from last year. I got first in my AG, and was the 9th alumni female to cross the finish line. I know my swim can use some work, so that's what I'll do! Plus I need to get back some more stamina that I lost during my surgery recovery.


My company is one of the sponsors of this race, yet I was the only one racing -- pretty pathetic! The door prizes are amazing, but the big one is a tri bike! It was too bad that we had to start late. It wasn't the fault of the race organizers. They were ready on time. It was just unfortunate because the temps got so much worse.