2008 Shepparton Hexman Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I got motion sickness on the previous OWS so I took natural medicine (had ginger in it) and wore earplugs. Didn't get any symptoms this time.

Wasn't sure a wetsuit was necessary but the outside air was pretty chilly at 7 so the water felt pretty warm. They started all Hexman competitors at the same time rather than waves. About 120 or so.
First time in an OWS with others and it was pretty crowded but I didn't get knocked about too much. Kept on course fairly easily although drifted towards the wrong marker at one stage. Did single stroke+breath rather than one breath per 2 strokes, so my speed seemed to stay pretty constant. Didn't get burned out.

Start in the middle rather than at the back.

Damn suit! Once I got it off, I put on my running shoes, then took them off, put on my SOCKS then running shoes, then took them off and put on my BIKE shoes. Yeah, I'm a pro...

Lube ankles to get suit off; not try to wear gloves; don't try to carry a banana (squashed it)

Got a good 3 or 4 minute headstart on George but he caught up within 5 minutes or so. Didn't see him again until about the 25km mark and stayed with him to the end, but had to push too hard to do it and burnt my legs out for the run

Set my bike Garmin correctly so I can use the pace and cadence info. Stick to a set speed that doesn't cripple the legs at the end.

Took bike to wrong area of T2 so had to backtrack. The rest was ok.

Visualise what I need to do before I enter T2

Really bad segment. Had to walk a bit at start as my heart was racing. Got it down and slowed down my pace to something normal and got breathing back under control. Legs were pretty burnt out so my form was terrible. Got lower back pains near start that didn't let up until the 5km mark. Not same pains as normal; these were muscle pains from running stooped over (too tired). Got lots of drinks along way and gels that didn't seem to do anything (turns out the gels were mostly fruit juice).

Possibly walk for 2 minutes at start if I'm as tired as this time but hopefully won't push the cycling so hard and leave a bit for the run

Didn't do anything; walked around a bit and talked


Core leg muscle strength limits upper speed on bike and burns out muscles too quickly. Swim was great, cycling was hard and run was too hard to be fun


First triathlon and as I suspected, a LOT harder than the sum of individual swim, run, and cycle training. Almost no pacing at all due to the competitive component kicking in. Need to focus on that. Still, I made it in 2:13 which was better than my target of 2:15, and I didn't come last, either!