WOU Sprint Triathlon (West Oregon University) - TriathlonSprint

I was in heat 7, in a lane with two other girls about my age. I had to stop four different times to empty the water out of my goggles which was extremely annoying. I could barely see the lane or the walll. I was swallowing a ton of water because every time I went to take a breath, someone would splash me and it was really choppy. I also did not do any flip turns. There was a volunteer at the end of each lane who counted for you which was great.

Get in a much better warm-up if possible. Maybe that would have given me a chance to get my goggles situated and in the right place. Calm myself down right before the start in order to lower my heart rate which is what I think led me to swallow so much water. I should focus more on my breathing pattern and less on the other people around me. I should pretend that I am the only one in the lane.

I think I can do a lot better than this time. I like how I set everything out. I took awhile putting on my GPS because I put it on the wrong way at first and I had to take it off and do it again. The helmet was ok and so were the gloves. It took a long time to get my shoes on. I put on sunglasses on and then decided not to wear them at all. I didn't rush getting on the bike because I was nervous about falling.

Getting my GPS on the right way the first time. Increasing the speed of getting my shoes on. Don't worry about the sunglasses until I get more used to riding with them. Now I hopefully won't be so timid about getting onto the bike either.

It felt great for the most part. I was slow to mount the bike, get going, and get up to speed. I tried to turn on my GPS, but that took awhile and slowed me down a bit. I want to say it was around mile 6 or 7 that I reached down to grab my water bottle, but I almost fell over so I only took a few quick sips and decided not to try to drink again. I need to drink more during the bike, especially for longer distances. I enjoyed flying past some people on the uphills and more people on the downhills. I felt every little bump on Jake's tires which made me nervous at first until I got over it and just went for it. I figured if I fell, it was going to hurt either way whether I was going slow or fast.

Push harder over the last half of the ride. I felt like I started daydreaming and thinking about other things when I should have been focusing on my cadence and what I was actually doing at the moment. I will try to have a faster mount and dismount next time. I will also try to master drinking from the water bottle too.

This was a super quick in and out. I was slow to dismount, but I ran with the bike, racked the bike, threw the helmet down, took off my gloves, and ran off...only in the wrong direction!

Start running in the correct direction!

It was a flat 1.5 miles, then I drank a couple sips of water at the turnaround, and finished alright. I could have pushed myself a lot harder though. I was in my "go forever" pace when I should have been in my "kick my own a**" pace. I know I can do better. The run performance was weak sauce in my opinion. Happy and disappointed all at the same time.

Run faster!

Ran one mile back to catch up with my sister. Then ran that same mile with her to the finish line...again! Walked back to the gym and transition area.


This was my first triathlon so my nerves were frayed and I was super anxious. I always get that way when I don't know what to expect or when I do something competitive for the first time. That is also why I could not fall asleep the night before. I only got five hours of sleep when I should have had eight to ten.


We had to wait almost two hours for the final results to come in which was torture!