I have to get the award for the absolutely, positively worst swimmer in the tri award. My swim stunk...I mean it was horrible. I started out good in the first 75 yeards. I was stong and passed the person in front of me. Problem is I started too strong and got myself in some trouble. I was winded. Also, there were more waves in the pool than I expected. After getting winded I sucked in a big mouthful of water. This caused me to slightly panic. Not the type of panic where the lifeguard has to jump in the pool, but the type where my breathing becomes unorthodox. I am glad the entire pool was only 4 feet deep. If it were deeper I could have got myself into a dangerous situation. I am a certified SCUBA diver and I have always loved the water. I know this is a different type of swimming, but I feel comfortable in the water...except on long-distance swims.

I am so discouraged by my swimming. I have been training hard. I finally got where I felt comfortable swimming the 200 yards and then I have a set-back like this.

To make matters worse, I have a tri with a 1000 yards ows only 12 days from today. You want to talk about a person being nervous?

I need to slow down my stroke and embrace the water.

Keep in mind that a smooth comfortable swim will make it easier for me on the rest of the course.

8/24 in transition.

The course started out with a long slow down hill. This is where I should have picked up a good pace. Unfortunately I couldn't get my bike computer going. I wasted too much time playing with the computer the first 1/2 mile instead of taking advantage of the downhill run.

About 2 miles into the bike my legs were feeling very sluggish. The bike is my strong suit and I am stronger than many other beginners. I was really looking forward to making up some ground on the bike. It finally dawned on me what was the problem. Two days before the race I went on a ride with some friends. We rode the course of the Mach Tenn triathlon that I have on June 7. Instead of taking that ride easy I hammered it. I figured my legs had time to recover (48 hours) but I guess I was wrong.

There was actually one hill where I almost had to get off and walk up to the top. It covered a 200 ft. elevation change in under .5 miles. I set it in my mind that I could overcome any pain. I kept forcing myself to pedal, one revolution after another, and I made it to the top of the hill.

Although the bike did not turn out as well as I would have liked, I still feel that I made a decent showing on the bike course.

Make sure my computer was working properly before the race.

Make sure I properly tapered before the race.

I thought this transition went very well. I'm not sure I could have done things much faster. The race didn't time T2 but I wish they did I think I would have posted one of the faster times.

Nothing

Exactly one month prior to this race I ran a 1/2 marathon. Judging by my performance in this race you would have never guessed it. The run was very much below par. I had to walk too much. My cardio was ok, but my calves tightened up on me making the run very difficult. I was wanting to run a sub 8:00/mile, but there's no way when you have to walk as much as I did.

I need to figure out a way to keep my calves from being tight from the transition of biking to running.

Walked around talking with friends. Cheered on my nephew.


Overall, I am disappointed with my finishing time. I really thought 52 minutes was very doable. Although I have expressed some discouragement about my finish time, I was less than 6 minutes from placing 3rd in my AG. I can easily evaluate my race and tell where I could have realistically, based on my training, made up those 6 minutes. Probably the biggest thing would be to taper properly. I think I took this race too lightly. What I mean is that the distances didn't impress me because I am training for longer triathlons. I can easily do these distances so I didn't repect how much adding all 3 back-to-back can take out of a person. If I would have added a day or two more of rest or light workout I think my finish times would have been drastically lower.

On the positive side, this was my first tri and I completed it. I had a blast and I want to continue to compete in triathlons. I need to evalute some of my weaknesses and work to make them stronger, but at the same time I need to be proud of myself for setting a goal and accomplishing it.