Four States Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I learned from my last open water wade in start (almost two years ago) and stayed toward the back of the crowd. Gun shot and bodies in the water. It wasn't as bad as my last one, considering I started in the back. The swim out to the first bouy was slow as I fought with my brain that I really wanted to finish the swim. After rounding the first bouy and nearly drowning when I ran into the gaggle of people stopping at the bouy, I was okay. rounding the second bouy was better but with the sun just coming up over the trees I had a heck of a time finding the beach. I know that I was way off course when I finally seen the beach bouy and headed in that direction. But I just wanted to finish the swim.

well, how about swimming more then once before the race. I don't think I have been swimming at all since Novemeber until last weekend. So for a 2:08/100yrd time is not too bad. I know I can improve that by swiming more.

I know I spent way too much time in T1, but I was trying to get myself mentally in focus that I am just wanting to finish this race NOT worry about the time. The problem really came after crossing the mount line.

Moved faster - perhaps practice getting into my damn shoes better.

Okay here is where I had the most problem. Back last year I would clip my shoes to the pedal, jump on the bike, start pedalling then put my feet in the shoes. No problem right? WRONG!!! One must practice this routine a couple of times BEFORE attempting it. Even if you had it down LAST YEAR. I get to the mounting line; I know I need to be a little more careful since I have not done this in a year; push down on the pedal, throw my leg over, and realize my shoe is gone. Yep boys and girls, while starting to pedal my shoe gets stuck between the road and the pedal and pops off just as easy as you please. So here I am straddling my bike, while someone hands me my shoe. Instead of getting off the bike to put my shoe on, I continue to straddle the bike and attempt to get the shoe on. If you have never attempted this, DON'T. How I managed to get it on without falling over is way beyond me. but I get it slipped in and start pedalling. The fun is not quite over. Let's just say I have never had that much problem trying to get my shoes strapped down.
As for the rest of the bike ride, I thought I was doing good, but damn I was be paced by a lot of people. Still not too bad of an average time considering

More riding with practice on the mount and dis-mount.

I did take my feet out of the shoes when coming into T2, but decided it might be better to stop before getting off. Especially considering my snafu getting on the bike. I did have a bit of trouble with my getting my race belt on, but not really that bad.

practice getting off the bike

An 8:40mm is not that bad for a fat man like myself, but damn were these people running fast. In my age group there were people running 18 min for the 3 miles. Holy Crap! Let's put it this way, half of the people there ran under 8 min mile averages.

Find a race with slower runners.

Ate, drank, and sat.


NOT TRAINING!!


The race was overall friendly. I like that. What I did not like was that it turned out to be filled with rabbits (you know those fast swimmers, fast runners, fast bikers). My girl friend was telling me that the announcer was saying that this person went to state for this thing and that person was top in class for that thing. I guess only those hard core triathletes would go out into the middle of the woods to do a race, but I think the rest of the slower people are missing out on a great event. I really enjoyed the way they had this set up.
--Yes I got my ass whooped, but atleast I finished.