Emerald Pointe Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Overall I was pretty pleased with my swim. I had a solid start and got into a good position. My strokes were consistent and I felt capable the entire swim. Although I drifted to the left the entire time I caught on to my drift early and made a conscious effort to swim to the right to balance myself out. I checked my watch coming out and it read 7:54 and my goal was to be under 8 minutes. So I was pretty happy with this leg.

I had trouble with the hill run at Iron Girl so I told myself that I WOULD run the entire hill this time. And I did. It helped to have some people I knew cheering me on as I went. The hill climb was the worst part of the swim for me and accounts for about 2 minutes of my overall time.

I was very happy with my swimming performance. I think I probably should have spent more time with hills as that little run up winded me and possibly set me up for a sub-par performance on the rest of the course. Perhaps I should have walked it to conserve energy? Next time I will include more hill workouts in my training routine.

I think my first transition went ok. I was winded from running up the hill but was able to find my spot pretty quickly. For some reason I spent a bit of time going through my stuff until it clicked that I was WASTING time and I told myself to just put my shoes and helmet on and GO!

I would go into T1 with the thought of getting my stuff on and moving out instead of treating it like the end of part 1 and starting to relax too much mentally. I need to think of it as its own section to be raced or as the start of the bike.

I told myself (and others) that I would be happy with anything under 45 minutes. But what I really meant was that I wanted 40 minutes. So while I am okay with 43 minutes I still have this feeling that I could have and should have done better. I felt like I didn't really start racing until about mile 9. I tried to ride at a race pace right from the start but could not get moving for some reason. I even felt slow on the downhill portions. I am not sure if my legs were tired from the hill run or if I was just tired and overwhelmed from the swim. I struggled a lot on the uphill portions where I am usually pretty strong. I tried to push myself and just couldn't maintain a faster pace. So I am a little disappointed I guess but still happy to have a faster pace than I had at Iron Girl.

I will incorporate more swim-bike workouts into my training to prepare my legs. I will also spend more time on hills and take longer rides to build up my overall bike fitness level.

My legs were a bit out of it getting off the bike. I tried to run back to my rack but had to settle for a very slow trot that many may mistake for a walk. I did manage to get my socks and shoes on without much trouble though. I forgot my race belt at first but realized it when I was about to exit the transition area and saw another runner putting his on. So I went back to the rack to grab my belt and off I went.

I will incorporate more bricks with transitions into my workouts. I will also not forget my race belt again!

I was really shooting for 30 minutes. After hitting the half way point at 15 minutes I thought it was going to be possible. Unfortunately my knee started acting up and my almost 2 weeks of no running (due to the knee) started to take its toll. I stopped to walk twice which is something I had hoped to not have to do. When I rounded the rotary I checked my watch. I wanted to hit 1:30:00 as an overall time. I don't recall my time at that point but I knew it was within reach if I could just push a little bit more. I focused on my breathing and stride and started making my way to the finish. It was really great to have "fans" at the home stretch. It helped to have people cheering and pushing me on. I really appreciate it! I had a strong finish.

To be honest I let the running portion of my training take a back seat to the other disciplines because I enjoy them so much more. I need to make running a core part of my workouts. If you look at my Athena rankings for each discipline you will see that I was 4th for both the swim and the bike but 17th for the run. This is obviously my weak area.

I didn't do too much to warm-down. I grabbed some water from the finish line and went looking for my husband and fellow competitors to see how everyone did. I wasn't able to stay around for too long as I had a tennis match at 1pm.


I think a number of things limited me. I wish I had done more bricks and had focused more on running. Overall, however, I am very pleased with the progress I made during my training season and my overall performance at this race. I came a lot further than I thought I ever would!!


This was my second triathlon and a PR for me. I didn't properly or adequately train for my first one. I took a completely different approach with this one and trained like a real triathlete. I am very happy with all the progress I made and still continue to make. Although I expressed some displeasure above with my splits it is only because I felt like I could have done each individual event better. But I know it isn't always possible when having to string all three together and that's part of the challenge. I had a great time preparing for this race and an even better time finishing it. I see this as something I want to continue doing for a long time. Thank you for everyone who helped make my victory possible!