North East Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Swim was an in water start, jumping in off the boat dock. I started off very well, I thought, and was feeling good til about halfway through. Around the halfway mark, I found myself stopping to “rest” where I’d side stroke for a few seconds, then continue on with freestyle. I really don’t need to do this, as I am perfectly capable of swimming 750 meters continuously. I think it helps me with sighting though, and that’s why I do it. I just get tired of sighting freestyle and this allows me to have a good look around…but I think it slows me down too much. These breaks became much more frequent towards the end of the swim.

The swim felt really long. And I’m pretty sure it was on the long side, as my time was about 7 minutes slower than my last sprint with the same distance swim. Only difference was not having a wetsuit in this swim, but I don’t think that accounted for the whole difference.


Swimming freestyle continuously without taking “breaks” to side stroke. It’s just not necessary. I think the problem is my sighting. I can sight, but I need to improve. Especially need to work on sighting when I’m breathing to the left. Funny thing is, in the pool I prefer breathing to the left, but sighting is awkward when I breathe left, so I breathe right when I race so I can sight better. There was a point in this race where breathing to the left would have been a better option, and I couldn’t do it because I couldn’t sight that way. Something to work on this winter (along with swimming in general).

Swim time included a looooong run to transition. I clocked it at about 2 – 2.5 minutes from the time I came out of the water til I got to transition. Part of this run was on grass, while the other part was on a paved surface with some stones…so I had to take that part pretty slow.

I think this was my best T1 yet! During the long run to transition, I removed my goggles and cap which I forgot to do in my last race. Saved some time by not squirting my feet with water from a bottle which I usually do. Instead I just stood on my towel and wiped them like I was wiping my feet on a door mat. Put helmet and glasses on while I did this. Put shoes on and took off. My transition time was the 2nd fastest in my age group and 16th overall. Heck yeah!

Nothing. This was my best T1 yet.

Didn’t know what to expect from the bike course, as I hadn’t driven it the day before. I enjoyed it once we got off the main road (Rt. 272). The bike course was pretty much constant ups and downs. The hills weren’t really that steep, just kind of long.

I pretty much pushed as hard as I could on the bike, passing quite a few people…although I was passed plenty too.

One crazy thing that happened, was that this poor squirrel dashed right across the road right in front of the guy in front of me. He dashed across, looked like he went right in front of the guy’s wheel, then dashed back the other way, under the bike ( I guess in between the wheels?!), then one more time turned and dashed under again. I have no idea how the guy did not actually run the squirrel over. It was insane.


Felt good about the bike, so I wouldn't really do anything different.

Ran in, racked bike, helmet glasses off, shoes on (had a little trouble here – as usual). Grabbed my belt and visor and off I went. I was a little surprised to see it was a little slower then my T1, although I did have problems getting my shoes slipped on.

Felt pretty good about my T2. I’m not sure why I always have problems getting my shoes on. I keep having balance issues when I stand on one foot.

Legs initially felt good coming out of transition, then they started feeling heavy. I knew that feeling would fade in a few minuets, and it did. The run was an out and back on Rt 272, which wasn’t exactly scenic. It was a bit of a challenge in the beginning because it’s a very slight uphill once you get onto 272. Just enough of an incline to make your legs notice. Hehe.

I ended up passing quite a few people on the run. I was hoping to PR here, but missed it by about 8 seconds. Still, I would say this run felt better than my PR run in the Philly Women’s Tri. Maybe I could’ve run a little harder. I think if I had known I would’ve missed my PR by only 8 seconds I could’ve stepped it up just a little.

Run splits:
Mile 1: 8:00
Mile 2: 7:56
Mile 3.1: 8:58



Nothing.

Walk around, find some shade, stretch.


Mentally losing confidence/motivation on the swim.


Good race. I thought the run course was a little boring. It would've been cool to run through the town, but I'm sure that was logistically hard to pull off. I wasn't a fan of the slanted shoulder that we had to run on.

The food was pretty good. Plenty of water. Volunteers were great.

I also liked how this race was a little smaller than some of the other events I've done. It was nice for a change. I would definitely do this race again if it fits into my schedule in the future.