Pioneer Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I broke rule number one, train with the gear you are going to race in!!! With this being my first race, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to wear for the swim. I bought a tri-top and bottoms, but never wore them until the race. Well, as soon as I started swimming the zipper on the top came unzipped, so now the top was acting as a parachute, I swam the first 100 yards this way and then stopped to zip it back up. The top must be a tad big because it was still pulling away from my body at the top and sucking water, so after 150 yards, I stopped to rip the top off and threw it on the deck. After that fiasco the swim went A OK!! I would have been right on pace had I not had the gear problems. Live and learn.

Just go topless on the swim.

I had never practiced the transition game so I was kind of winging and it showed. After the swim I was now trying to put on a soaking wet tri-top, which was not an easy task. Everything else went ok, with practice I will get more smooth.

Practice Practice Practice

There were more hills than expected, but overall I thought I handled them well. I probably could have pushed the bike harder, I wasn't sure how my legs were going to react to the run. So I played it a little conservative on the bike.

Find some hills to practice on.

HORRIBLE! I fumbled around with my socks. I should have practiced getting them on sweaty feet. I need to give running without them a shot.

Run without socks. Get those tri-specific laces for my shoes.

This I was real happy with. I am not a runner (or swimmer or cyclist for that matter, but definitely not a runner) but the run felt great. The first 1/4 mile was a little weird, I never did a brick so this was my first experience going from bike to run. After that I just fell into my pace and kept it steady.

Keep training and practice running without socks. Find some hills to run up in training!!

Walked around, had some oranges and water, and waited from my G/F to finish.


Lack of transition practice. Using gear without practicing with it.


Overall I had a great experience. As a first timer I thought this race was great, just the right size and difficulty. Plenty of volunteers and they were all nice and helpful in answering all my questions. I was on a high for the rest of the day. I can't wait for my 2nd Tri at my new addiction.