Fort Collins Club Triathlon #3 - TriathlonSprint

I left one person pass me at the wall, but I passed two other people. Then one girl was booking it because she didn't want me to pass. My darn goggles though. I had put the anti-fog on the night before, so that wasn't an issue. But they kept getting water in them. I swam about a 50 with one eye closed because my goggle was completely filled with water. Finally, I had to stop in the middle of a lane and let the water out and suction them back to my face. It was really REALLY annoying. I will buy new goggles before the next race. But hey, its the fastest I've ever done that swim. I though I was going to do it in 9 minutes, but I cut 11 seconds off my time. Not too bad.

Have goggles that don't get water in them. Actually, I think I would have been okay except that I had them on upside down, so the nose strap was cutting into my nose and that's probably why they were letting water in. But I will definitely get new goggles before the next race.

Kept my swim suit on the whole race. Just threw on the bike shorts, put on the running shoes (I don't have bike shoes), put on the hat, sunglasses, and helmet, and then took off!

Tie my shoes quicker. I think that's what most of my T time is, is me tying my shoes.

I'm not very strong at the bike, especially compared to other people. But also, I was riding a bike that didn't fit me. I passed a couple people, but mostly I was getting passed by people with lower numbers than me (which means they were going to be faster than me anyway). Biking is more like my body's and mind's rest time anyway. I'm satisfied with my time, though it probably could have been a little faster. But still, its my first tri. Give me a break.

Also, I had trouble with my helmet. I had put it on the night before and the chin strap was just a little too tight. But it felt okay and I didn't want to have to sit down and figure out how to loosen it, so I just left it. Well, because it was a little too tight, I had to keep my head up the entire ride because if I looked down, it would cut into my chin and make it hard to breathe. I really should have just fixed that the night before. I almost tossed my full water bottle to the side at the beginning of the ride, but I kept it just in case I needed it. Good thing, because I did take drinks out of it twice. And I think it helped hydrate me for the run leg.

Fix the darn helmet the night before. Oh, and go out and ride the course beforehand. The lady told us that there was going to be one hill on the bike course, and the rest would be downhill. Well, she lied. There was one major hill, and the rest was slightly to moderatly uphill. If I had known that beforehand, I probably could have paced myself better. But my second and third laps were better than the one before.

Had to stop the bike completely right before the bike finish so that I could jump off (the bike's too tall for me and I wasn't comfortable jumping off a moving bike). Had to lift the bike up the curb too. That was kinda annoying, since they had said they might have a ramp there for us. Bike got all jarred around, but I didn't care because I wasn't going to need it again. Just racked the bike, pulled off the helmet, pulled off the bike shorts, and ran away in just my swim suit and running shoes and hat.

Nothing. Not sure I could really shave much more time off of that transition.

Had to walk at the very beginning for about 30 seconds once I got out on the dirt path. Though I've practiced that transition, it still was really hard. So I walked for a little bit so this guy could pass me. He gave me some encouraging words though. It was nice.

The rest of the time I just ran and followed the arrows painted on the ground with chalk. Only passed 3 or 4 ladies on the run, and was passed by one lady and several men. The miles actually seemed to go by a lot faster than I thought they would. I was surprised when the kids manning the water station told me I was already half way there. A couple people came out of their houses to cheer too. I never saw the 3 mile mark on the pavement, so I was surprised when I ran by some people getting out of their car and they said I only had 100 yards left. I had thought the cheering sounded much farther away than that. So I sprinted through the finish and finished strong. I couldn't feel my legs while I was sprinting, but that's how it usually is when I sprint the end of a long workout anyway.

All throughout the run I was thinking evil thoughts about how "this isn't a sprint" and how my first recorded 5K was tacked on to the end of a swim and bike, and just complaining to myself in my head. But I think it distracted my from my complaining legs and helped the miles go quickly. Hey, the triathlon magazine said to get angry, and I was definitely angry during the run. I also wasn't quite sure how to pace myself, and I thought I was going a lot slower than I actually did. But my run time was really fast, for me. I've never run just a 5K by itself, but I had always estimated that I wouldn't come in any faster than 25 minutes. So 26 minutes, after the other two sports, is really good. I am very satisfied.

I'm really satisfied with my run time. I would definitely try to just keep running instead of walking that little bit after the transition. But it really wasn't a very long walk, so I'm trying not to beat myself up about it. But other than that, I don't think there's much I could have done better on the run. I was satisfied at the end.

Walked around a little bit and waited to see my sister come through the finish line. My mom and her did a relay (my mom swam and biked, Jessie ran). It was my main goal not to get lapped my Jessie on the run, and I didn't. She came in 4 minutes after I finished. Their relay did beat my time overall by 4 minutes though. But hey, she didn't catch or lap me, so its all good.


I don't think I tapered correctly. I know I didn't taper correctly, but this past week was just too stressful to really concentrate on training. So its all ok. But I wasn't in the best possible shape that I could have been in.


We had to wait around for 2 and a half hours for them to start the awards ceremony. They didn't even post race results until 2 hours after we were done. So that was kinda a bummer. But my mom and sister got first place in the female relay division. So woo hoo!!! I got 6th in my age group, but its ok. My goal was to make it under an hour and a half, and I made it in 1:20:58. So I'm satisfied. Next time, I want to try and see if I can place in my age group. But after all, this was my first tri. I've learned a lot and I'm sure I'll do better when this race comes around again in May of next year. I finished middle of the pack and I'm satisfied with that.