Renewed Confidence for Sunday's Race

I did my first tri 3 weeks ago and finished, but I know that I could have done better. It was a wave start and I was in the next to the last wave. I finished about 2 minutes behind the person ahead of me in my age group and there was only 2 people from the age group behind me to pass on the bike, so I basically was running by myself during the entire run.

I came out of the pool last in my AG and passed one guy on the bike, but I believe this was because the swim killed me. I was so tired coming out of the pool my transition was slow and the first 2-3 miles on the bike was nothing but catching my breath. By the time I started really riding it seemed like the ride was over (12 mile ride). I couldn't make myself run faster on the run, because there was no in front of me to catch and no one behind me to run away from.

Not that competing is what the sport is about, but when the final standings came out there were about 5-7 people within 5-45 seconds in front of me. I wanted to kick myself for not giving my all on the bike and the run, because I could have moved a few places overall.

After the BT Swim Challenge, riding on the bike more, and running outside more, I have a renewed confidence. My swimming is getting a lot better both time wise and efficiency. I actually think that I will come out of the pool with tons more energy, because I have started swimming longer distances. This should help my T1 and the bike portion.

And now I know even if no one is in front of me on the run to give it my all because every second counts.

I went back at looked at my splits for the race and thought about what I can do if I try this time.

Last Race
400 yard swim = 9:00 min
T1 = 2:39 min
12 Mile Bike = 42:34 min (16.9 MPH)
T2 = 0:44 min
2 Mile Run = 19:00 min

Total = 1:13.57

Sunday Race Projection
450 yard swim = 9:00 min
T1 = 1:30 min
14 Mile Bike (@18.5 MPH) = 45:30 min
T2 = 0:45 min
2.5 Mile Run (@ ~8.5 min/mile) = 21:30 min

Total = 1:18.15