Bismarck Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Got swam over and jostled around at start. Found it hard to breathe every third stroke, with the curved route and the wetsuit maybe being too restrictive. Couldn't get settled in until after the turn around but still couldn't find a good 'pool' rhythm.

Water was cold but really didn't notice it during the event. The worst part was how brown cloudy the water was ... couldn't see anyone in front or beside me and was disorienting.

fit into wetsuit better
maybe use a sleevless suit?
and, of course, train in open water once in awhile!

Was pretty tired out of the water and the short incline didn't give a lot of incentive to work on getting the suit off quickly:)
Was tough to get shoes on over heels, while riding, needed to put some bodyglide on the shoes.

Overall the best T1 I have had, due to it being the first time sockless and leaving the shoes on the bike.

Lubricant on/in the shoes. Other than that, was happy.

Once I got the shoes on decided to go hard since I felt pretty strong ... until I got a little case of the 'pukesies'. Caught up with SneakySpeed and ImTriing and we all pushed each other. I think ImTriing and I knew we had to push it on the bike as we can't count on the run (yet:)).

Got out of shoes too early as I thought the first turnoff into Misty Waters was the transition (saw orange cones in the distance). Felt I was riding on top of the shoes for at least 1/2 mile longer than I should have been.

Make visual note of where I should begin taking off the shoes, prior to the race.

Ran through the gate and past the flag line ... lost a few seconds there.

Best T2 I have had, due to going sockless and keeping the shoes on the bike.

Better rack placement.
Lubricant on the running shoes opening and arch area, just to make sure go on clean.

Come off the bike in second place, so was quite pleased with that.
Stitch on right side coming out to the run. Stomach problems for the first 1/2 mile.
Couldn't get my legs moving, felt like I was dragging until the turnaround. Was passed by at least 7 runners. Then was able to get up to speed and catch ImTriing (who got me at Chain of Lakes Tri).

Need to figure out pre-race nutrition, as it seems I get stomch trouble quite often.

Just need to continue to do speed work and drop in weight. This was probably my best 'real' run time I have accomplished in a tri, but felt poor since my training has been going better.

walked the running trail and then walked/stood around and chatted.


Don't know if it was too much water in my stomach prior to race, or maybe I got some stomach gass from the Hammer gels (which I usually train with), as I was burping a little when I had the pukey feeling. Need to get that figured out, as it wasn't the first time this has happened.


Pros:
Decent venue for the race, good to have a ND race too.
Small, friendly event.
Had rest rooms available.
Enough parking apace.
Plenty of water. Fruit/granola available post race.

Cons:
Didn't know what was going on post race. Looks like they had some medals/awards but must have missed them while I was loading up the bike and hanging out with my family ... as I came back to the table where the times were and seemed like several of the medals were gone and most people had dispersed.
No trash cans around.
No dressing area.
Could use PA system to help communicate information, results, and maybe announce finishers.