The Rookie Triathlon - TriathlonMini Sprint

Didn't start to worry about the swim until about 50 yards into it. I don't know how this happened, but somehow I ended up more toward the front of the 80+ wave than toward the back. As I was walking up into the water, everyone fanned out and so everyone (at least that's what it seemed like to me) was behind me... I was shooting more for the back of the middle of the group, but didn't realize where I was placed until they started the count down... First 100 yards or so didn't put my head into the water... so was out of breath before I was even a 1/3 into it. Started to panic (a little later than I normally do...there's always a silver lining if you look hard enough) a little in the middle of the pack...then started thinking to myself that I was being stupid b/c I was confident in my ability to swim. True, I'm not fast, but I've easily swam a mile straight over the past 6 months. Once the group spread out a bit I switched to breast stroke to try to slow my breathing and calm down a bit... Rounded the buoy and then finally got into a rhythm on the home stretch. Was shooting for a time between 7 & 9, so I was relatively happy after the race was over, though I know I could have done better... Next year :)

Need to get more experience swimming in open water. I'm finally coming around to being comfortable in the pool, now need to learn how to translate that to open water

The run from the lake to the transition area was roughly 75 yard+ over asphalt (really glad it was overcast and not really hot!) Got to bike and immediately tried to pull shirt on. Ran into same problem I did in the Austin Tri last Sept where the shirt rolled on me and so I probably lost about 20-30 seconds fixing this, then slipping on my shoes, helmet & shades and started running to mount line...

Maybe try to have a loose towel that I can use to quickly dry off back to avoid the shirt issue... Run harder

Stupid Chain came off when switching between big gears- cost me at least a full minute plus it was half way up a big hill and so it probably cost me more than that. All in all though, was happy with my bike. Hit 37.5 mph (fastest so far) on the final hill leading to the dismount line!!! That was a lot of fun!!

More saddle time. Work on my sprint speed.

The final downhill of the bike I had pushed as hard as I could because I was still mad at myself for throwing my chain toward the end and was trying to make up every second I could. Of course, this meant my legs were a little "heavy" for the 1st mile of the run.

Tied for 36th fastest T2 in age group! That was somewhat of a surprise to me...felt like I couldn't have moved slower!

Run harder.

Wow was I tired! Still, this is the best finish I've had of the three triathlons I've done. 1) I never stopped running, or maybe I should say I never stopped "running"... Thinking back I want to say that I held back too much, but I remember my legs being really tired. I did have a negative split. By the turn around at the bus, I saw that my time was somewhere around 10:5x, which means I ran an 8:xx to finish under 20 minutes. So that was good.

Do more brick workouts to be a little more accustomed to running on tired legs

Grabbed some water and a Coke. Then Ice Cream... Then a hamburger... Heh, so much for the race doing anything for keeping the weight down :)


Training had been very sporadic. I usually get two really good weeks and then two weeks where I do next to nothing. Need to work on consistency of effort. I honestly don't believe I'm built for races this short - at least not the run. My run didn't come alive until after the first mile (usually it takes me about 4 miles for my stride to loosen up and I can run efficiently and faster when doing straight running)


I absolutely loved this race!!! I WILL most definitely be doing this race in 2009!