Avalon Islandman Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

It was my first time in the open water, let alone the ocean. BIG MISTAKE! I have no problem swimming laps in the pool and consider myself half decent at it. Ocean swimming was a completely different story. Ran into the water with everyone else, no problem. As soon as I started swimming, my goggles instantly filled with water and I knew I was in trouble. I couldn't get any rhythm at all because of the waves and was in panic mode the entire time.

Pretty much doggy paddled the entire swim. Almost had to call a lifeguard to help me one the way in because the breakers kept tossing me under on the way in. But pride got in the way and I doggy paddled my way to shore.

EVERYTHING! Not sure exactly what I was doing wrong. I most likely will have to take a class or at least buy a DVD/book of how to swim in the ocean.

Wasn't too worried about the transition time, since it was my first triathlon. Time would have been better if I didn't have to recover so much from the swim.

Got my shoes on quicker. Didn't mount too well, that's something I should practice. Tape gel to bike.

Bike went pretty much as expected. Haven't been training too long on it and, when I do, it's on more hilly courses at a lower speed. Still not comfortable in aero position, which probably hindered me. That is definitely something I need to work on. The three loop course hurt me a little too since I wasn't used to maneuvering corners at high speeds. Being my first time, I was nervous about the drafting aspect of the triathlon, but that didn't play much of a role at all.

Push a little harder on the bike. I wasn't sure how I would feel running a 5k after the bike portion, so I took it a little easier than I should have.

Same as before. No real goals here. Just wanted to gain some experience.

I use a Forerunner when I do my training runs/rides and road races. I wanted to use it for the triathlon but haven't figured out the auto multisport feature. I spent a little bit trying to set it up for running, before I finally got it to work.

Run was decent. I was forewarned about how dead my legs would feel after the bike, but it wasn't too bad. Started off a little slow due to the soft sand at the beginning, but got my rhythm about a half mile in and started picking people off. My Forerunner was telling me I was going around 6:15 pace, which I was satisfied with. I picked it up to about a 5:45 pace with a mile to go (or so I thought). All of a sudden the finish came up and I still had a bunch of energy left. The finish was a little rough too since I was trying to kick while running through soft sand. The run had to have been short by a considerable amount. My Forerunner read 2.50 miles. I was kind of bummed about that, because I can't use this race as a gauge for what kind of 5k pace to run next triathlon.

Gone out a little harder.

No cool down. Was too dead. Almost puked but held it back. Hung out for a little, got some fluids and food. Waited for the results.


Ocean swim.


Good race besides the short run. Since it is my first, I don't have too much to base my judgement on. Seemed like they gave away a lot of free stuff. I'm used to 5ks where all you get is a cotton t-shirt. Definitely will do this one again next year!