Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This was my first time swimming with a wetsuit and in open water and with a mass start. So there were a lot of new experiences! After a few initial thoughts of "this is how I'm going to die" I feel like I settled into a pretty good rhythm. The water didn't seem too bad and I didn't think of the temperature at all.

I definitely need a lot more practice with OWS. I think I'll do much better next time now that I have a better idea of what to expect.

This took longer than I expected. I was so winded coming out of the water that my run into transition was probably pretty sad. I got the wetsuit stuck on my championchip and had to sit down to get it off.

Practice getting the wetsuit off with the timer on and learn how to jump on the bike and put my shoes on while riding.

I feel like I rode about as well as I can ride at this point. Which is sad since I got passed a LOT! But that's where I am. I did pass a few people which felt good (I think one of those people had a broken pedal!). Coming up the last big hill my left calf cramped severely and so I had to do that last hill with just my right leg. That was an adventure!

I am looking forward to getting Aero Bars which I think will help some but in general I just need to develop my legs more to push harder on the hills. I've been training in Williamsburg and there aren't too many hills but I just need to find the ones there are and keep working them.

I feel like I did pretty well here. I have just recently got clip pedals and haven't had much practice with them. I was pretty concerned about wrecking at the dismount but I think that I did much better than I had expected (i.e. no wrecks).


I just need to keep practicing the dismount. I think I got into my running shoes easily enough.

Okay not my best effort but sadly all I had left in me. I've been dealing with shin splints so I haven't run much in training and certainly not on hills. So that first mile was rough running with jelly legs, shin splints, uphill, with no energy left and everyone passing me! I felt much better after the turnaround and picked up my pace a lot. I have a nice swollen bruise on my right shin as a medal for my efforts!

Not have shin splints? I decided to start doing Tri's to cross train because my body is not made for running but I still love to do it (even though I've never been fast). I just need to train harder to build my body up and train for more speed with more hill work.

Celebrated completing my first Triathlon under my projected time! Walked around stretched a little.


Poor conditioning!


Great first experience and I will be back next year and now I have some concrete numbers to use as goals!