The water was amazing, and warm, and felt awesome in the cold weather. There was a thick cloud of steam lifting slowly from the surface, and the warm-up pool connected with the main pool at one end.

I switched strokes a bit towards the end, freestyle was killing my arms, so I switched to breast stroke where I feel a bit more natural, though it's tougher on the shoulders.

I realized about 4 people away from my own start that I had to pee, very badly. And I've had this phobia of peeing in pools since I was younger stemming from a bad experience involving pool chemicals that react in vivid colors. So I swam with a full bladder.

I didn't do too well changing directions at the end of each lap, I need to practice that a bit more. I used the end of each lap as an opportunity to get in a quick breath, which cost me some time. I need to build up my endurance.

As a side note, I met Chad (Slidell4Life) in the warm-up pool, he had a couple good bits of advice for me which I used on my swim (most notably pushing harder on the second half of the swim, so the muscles are warmed up for the run to T1 which I was convinced would be absolutely freezing but thanks to his advice I didn't mind it as much, even welcomed the cold as a chance to cool myself off a bit.)

Pee before I get in the water. Practice my turns, and stop less.

I felt like I kept forgetting something. I didn't have a solid checklist of what to grab for the bike ride. My gear that I had meticulously set up using zero experience and a lot of guesswork (and peeking at other competitor's transition areas) turned out to be pretty inefficient, stuff felt like it was everywhere.

I chose a spot before I really knew where everything else was located and so I ended up at the far end of the transition area. Also, I am happy with my actual spot on the rack, I nabbed a curb spot, and so when I finished the swim I had a place to sit and put my shoes on.

I saw a lot of people with buckets, and didn't know what they were for, but that became apparent quickly, paul pointed out that they were probably to sit on.

I chose to go sock-less in my new tri-shoes and it was the right choice, the vents in the shoes dried my feet fast, and socks would have kept my feet wet during the bike ride.

I didn't get a time for my T1 or T2 because I never started my timer. And the "official race results" didn't have T1 or T2 listed.

I need to practice transition in my home, figure out where I want stuff. And go over it a few times before my next tri. Paul suggested we set up a bar at his house near his pool so that we can swim a couple laps, hop out of the pool, practice T1, then go for a bike ride around the block, back to the bar, and practice T2, then run around the block.

The road was relatively clear of debris. No trash other than the occasional dropped water bottle, some cups from the hydration stations, and some leaves and twigs from the trees.

There was very little wind, I noticed a slow breeze as I headed south on hayden, but the breeze was going north so it was hitting pretty forcefully.

I don't have aero bars yet, and I still had a full bladder from before the swim, so I was limited in how much I could lean over to stop my body from acting like a sail. I am now convinced that aero bars will have a noticeable impact on my next tri. I will definitely have that set up by then.

I stayed most of the course with my front gears on the big ring and my rear gears on the second biggest ring and only switched up one ring in the back to pass. I was comfortable like this, which is a problem. I have very strong legs, and could have pushed my ride time down easily by 15 minutes by upping the gears a bit.


Use harder gears. I wasn't even winded at the end of the ride. I need to pick up aero-bars.

T2 went much smoother than T1, I got off the bike, sat down, rolled my socks on, swapped shoes and decided to take that opportunity to finally empty my bladder. I forgot to lock the door to the port-a-potty, and got walked in on by someone. Clenching off a solid stream on a frigid day when you've got two legs of a race behind you and your muscles are all tight already is not a remotely pleasant experience. I thoroughly suggest you avoid it.

Lock the door

I felt really motivated going into this final leg, because at the end of it, I not only finished a race, but I earned a title. Triathlete. Plus my wife, kids, and in-laws were out by the start of the run cheering me on, so I had a solid head of steam going for the first half mile, probably a 7 minute mile pace. My legs felt great since I hadn't pushed myself particularly hard on the bike.

I kept pace with a few people here and there, a younger guy named Jacob, a Girl named Sarah with a stressful job, even passed by chad (Slidell4life) and my buddy Paul on the run. I find it much harder for me to run if I'm by myself, there's no motivation in it for me, but if I can find someone and keep pace with them, I can strike up a conversation, meet someone new, and be a little better for it.

I'd like to get my stride analyzed and maybe get some better running shoes and some instruction on proper running form.

Stop less, keep a steady pace. I can do 9 minute miles without much trouble, I'd like to aim for 8 minutes by the next tri.

As I crossed the finish line with a triumphant cheer, some of the people I had met on the swim, bike and run were there or were there shortly after and were cheering me on.

My family came over and my son sprinted (He's only 3 but he's pretty fast for a 3 year old) over to me with a huge grin on his face.

I couldn't have asked for a more exhilirating finish.


Experience, Training, and ultimately I competed with the wrong mindset. I had convinced myself that even a sprint triathlon would push me to my limit at this stage, so I came with the intent on merely finishing. If I could do that I would be happy, and I did, and I am. But had I known that the bike and run would't have pushed me really, I would have pushed myself more.

I feel mildly unhappy with my performance, but at the same time I'm ecstatic that I completed my first triathlon.


Overall it was probably the best race I could have chosen for my first Tri. It was an easy course, one that I could have pushed myself on without fear of major injury, the water was warm, the road was flat, and the weather was cool (Okay, I froze my a** off at 6:30 in the morning, but I wouldn't trade it for the world).

I also stuck around afterwards through all of the awards presentations and managed to score myself a big tub of "Heed" (Electrolyte powder drink stuff) from Hammer, and an extra t-shirt.

My buddy paul got a $50 gift card to Landis Sports.

To anyone looking for a good first tri, this one is perfect. It's shorter than most sprints, and everyone is very helpful and friendly, even the race coordinator himself was out on the course cheering us on as we passed by.