Abe's Mini Tri - TriathlonMini Sprint

Despite using inhaler, asthma acted up a bit, just enough to cause a little hyperventilation toward the end. I rolled into sweet spot and regrouped for a few seconds, long enough for a big guy to barrel past me and knock me against the pool wall. This being my first tri, I was unprepared for how violent this seemed.

Overall pretty satisfied with swim portion, considering that 8 weeks ago I couldn't swim half a lap. Just work on endurance and staying calm and relaxed.

This went ok. Fingers felt cold and clumsy, after coming out of the warm pool water into a cold drizzle. Lost a little time digging shoes out of a plastic bag, but it was worth it to have dry socks/shoes.

Set up camp on other side of bike.

Very happy with bike leg. A fellow BTer had suggested lowering air pressure in tires to 110-115, this served well on the slick road. I know that in the sprint distance at least one person wiped out on the first corner. It was a little confusing coming back to the transition area, mostly because two people in front of me were unsure where to go. Couple of kids struggling on the slick pavement, I was careful about passing them.

I don't know if anything could have been done differently, when I went to clip in, the pedals were so slick that my right foot slipped off. Forget leaving the shoes clipped in, that's far beyond my level.

Fingers were cold, biking gloves seemed glued to my hands. It took a while to get them off. Biking shoes came off easily, had to pull running shoes out of plastic bag. This seemed to take an eternity.

Instead of putting shoes in a bag, just cover them with plastic. Start pulling off gloves before racking bike.

All my long slow marathon training at an 11:30 pace has definitely hurt me. The 15 lbs. I gained didn't help either. But overall I'm pleased with my time. Went anaerobic just past turnaround, asthma chose to act up and I had to back off briefly.

Speed workouts.

Walked around a little, got a drink of water. After awards, Steve and I hit the Oakford winery for some good Illinois wine.


Endurance on swim, asthma acting up and lack of speed training for run. Rain made for challenges I had not expected.


This was the first year for this race. post race food was awesome --- penne pasta. My only criticism is that I registered as an Athena because this was an option, but there was not a Clydesdale/Athena award for the mini division. Not a big deal, just a little confusing.