Lake In The Hills Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

First timers typically dread the swim. My goal was not to drown. Free-styled first 200 - saw others doing side/butterfly so I switched to conserve energy. Navigation wasn't great but what do you expect. I stayed out of the way for other - so that was a plus.

I trained for the swim with a month of lake swimming but wasn't enough to be comfortable with my breathing.

I met my goal - I survived!

Wetsuit wasn't a problem coming off, but putting it in a bag was troublesome. Wore socks and trying to dry feet in the rain wasn't real fun - like toweling off while the shower is still on. Wore running shoes so this took some time. I didn't mind, I was out of the water!

Left bike gloves in bag to stay dry verses hanging on bars. Had practiced putting them on during the bike not in T1 and they were inside out. Duuh!

Kept thinking don't go out too hard. Had training rides that I was sucking air the last quarter. Wanted to be comfortable and with the rain not to crash. Hadn't trained in the rain. Course was good. Hills were not a problem, caught/past bikers on the hills. Gearing was good until later on. Tried to keep high cadence (for me) with lower gear early on. Prepped for run by using lower gears late too. Drank well even though not quite accustomed to this in races.

Bike was good; about what I expected. Hoped for about 45 minutes, but that was a wish.

A good T2! Got the bike racked and wet shirt off. Rain stopped sometime during the ride. A little trouble opening the bag for my running shirt with bid #. Ran with shirt to chip mat. It was good to be off the bike. I'm 2 thirds done! Not feeling like a tri virgin any more. Didn't change socks/shoes. It was nice to have a dry shirt on - believe it prevented over heating.

Didn't need to tie the T2 bag to the rack. Thought this would be drier than on the ground, but wet strings can be a problem to untie.

A decent run. Pace was good and transition was what I expected. I trained after every bike ride with 1/2 to 1 mile run so I knew what to expect. With a slow swim and average bike there were plenty of runners ahead. Had the 6th fastest run and I wasn't pushing...just trying to finish well.

Not a thing.

Typical post-race drink, eat and cheer others on. A little running afterwards, but not a much as I'd do for a 5K/10K.


Experience in truly open water swimming, but not a big deal to me.


Race materials showed up via snail-mail after the race. Had to laugh at this since as newbie this would have answered allot of questions. Envelope had 2 mailing labels on it so someone else may not have gotten the info too.
Start was delayed 15 minutes due to rain/weather, but wasn't an issue.