Chain of Lakes Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I did a sweet cannonball into the pool. I had to be six feet in the air. Anyway, three people in the lane, we decided our order, I went 2nd. I was shooting for 9 flat and 200M in I was ahead of pace, but feeling fairly good. I then died completely. I hadn't swam in a month and it showed.

Get my lazy ass out of bed in the mornings and swim. I need to put in the work here!!!!

This sucked. I was gassed getting out of the pool, so I walked to my bike while toweling off. Trying to get my top on was like wrestling with a straight jacket. I had to take it off and put it back on three times at least. Also I couldn't get clipped in to my pedals. I need to practice having pedals clipped in and putting my feet in them while riding. In my haste I didn't realize I only had my sports drink water bottle and no straight water with me. That will come into play later.

Wear my top while swimming (you were right Aaron). Practice transitioning with shoes clipped in pedals.

The bike felt really good. I wanted to average above 22 and I did. I took a Hammer gel about three miles in, BUT DIDN'T HAVE ANY STRAIGHT WATER, ONLY GATORADE!!!! I had to drink something, so I used the Gatorade. Not good.

I need to do more intervals and hills to get leg strength up. I struggle keeping it above 20 when I am faced with wind or hills.
I also should have taken my feet out of my shoes while approaching T2.

I had to take off my bike shoes when I got to my station. I should have had them off already. I decided to go with socks as I hadn't run with no socks on and didn't want to get a blister. In hindsight it was a freakin 3 mile run. I should have just put my shoes on.

Lose the socks. Do some training runs with no socks to determine if blisters are an issue. Get feet out of bike shoes on the bike, not in transition. Those two things would have saved me about a minute.

I had done no bricks before this race, so the feeling in my legs to start was new. It wasn't terrible, just something I need to get used to. The problem was the Hammer + the Gatorade. I was almost doubling over with stomach pain the ENTIRE run. It sucked so bad. I actually had a lower HR after the run than when I got off the bike. This cost me 2 minutes at least just because I could not push like I wanted to. I was completely defeated by a 3 oz packet of gel and 8-10 oz of blue liquid.

Bring water rather than sports drink on the bike. Or not use the gel for a sprint and just drink sports drink.

Threw up right as I crossed the finish line when the guy was announcing my name. It was great. Put my sweats on and tried to get my stomach ache to go away.


Nutrition mistake, not enough swimming, and horrendous transitions.


Well organized, fun race with good competition. I think the top five all went under an hour, #1 being 53 mins.