Chain of Lakes Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

3 of us in the lane. We talked about our paces and decided I would start first. Sarah said my first 100 was at about 1:12 - very fast for me, though it didn't feel that fast. I did slow down a bit after that. 1/3 to 1/2 the way through, the guy behind me passed and I hung on to his feet. I think I was actually able to feel a draft off him. At times, I felt like I wanted to go around him, but I didn't feel strong enough where I would likely be able to keep a pace strong enough to stay ahead. We wound up all staying right together the whole time - good guys to swim with.

I was swimming hard enough that I was only able to do flip-turns for about 1/3 of the swim, and before too long I couldn't keep up the bilateral breathing.

Nothing, really. It was a good swim.

I felt it was just warm enough (or not so cold, rather) that I could get by on the bike with just the tri suit so I wouldn't have to spend time putting on any other layers. It was a good transition, though socks took a few moments longer than I would have liked.

I got on the bike pretty easily, but I was pretty wobbly on the bike getting my feet into my shoes and it probably took me longer to get up to speed than it should have.

Practice those transitions

It was as windy this year as it was rainy last year. Wow. On hwy 29, the wind blowing off that lake was pretty cold - very strong cross wind pushing me around a bit. Turning off of 29 and climbing a little hill I started to warm up. The trail was once again the fastest part of the course. I was cruising along at 27-28 mph and was passed by someone going a few miles per hour faster. Had some gu ~4 miles into the ride.

Turning onto hwy 27 was awful. Slowed from the mid 20s mph to about 14. On the trail I was cool to be sure, but shortly after I turned onto 27, I was getting cold. A few more people on tri bikes passed me, and I worked to keep one of them only ~100 yards in front of me as we all battled that biting wind.

Turning back onto McKay, the wind was better, but I was cold and struggled a bit getting out of the bike shoes and wound up slowing down more than I would have liked.

Overall I passed about as many people as passed me, but I think the people I passed were from the previous heat and I got passed by people in my heat. It was a difficult ride to be sure.

Not much aside from practice getting into and out of the bike shoes.

Excellent transition for me. No problems at all.

Nothing

The run hurt almost the whole time. I was battling either stomach cramps, or having swallowed too much air from the water bottle or something. It felt like a slow run, but I was able to fall into a pace without too much difficulty. I slowly picked up the pace a little bit, but I did not feel good at all. I passed a few, but had about as many pass me as I passed.

I was watching as people in my heat caught up and passed me. About 1/2 mile before the end Dave and another guy passed me and pulled away slowly. About 1/4 mile later I was feeling just a little more energy and picked up the pace and passed them once again ~100 yards before the end, but they then sprinted by me shortly before the finish. There was nothing I could do but watch.

Very hard and uncomfortable run.

My running training has not been good. Train more, train better.

Collapsed. Didn't feel well. Tried to eat some fruit and drink some heed, but stomach didn't feel good and heed is nasty. Eventually started to move around. Tore down the transition area and later ate some fruit.


As stated above, my training hasn't been the greatest this spring. It's been inconsistent and undisciplined. Using a plan would have helped a lot... as would have been better weather for outdoor training this spring.


Girls staffing the drink station were sitting in a car keeping warm. I don't know if they had run out of water or were just cold and lazy. The rest of the race was great though. Great volunteers, good route. I can't wait for next year.