When the buoys finally got placed many of the competitors were saying to each other "that looks a lot longer than 400 yards". I don't know if that was pre-race jitters talking, but based on the distance between the shore and each buoy as well as on my time I think that the course was long, more like 500 yards. Keep in mind the swim time also included the run from the beach back to transition, over 1/4 mile away.

Each wave funneled through the timing station and we waited at the shoreline for the "go" command. I positioned myself at the back to start near my wife, since based on our training times and my faster speeds overall this was probably the only time we'd see each other during the race (I was very wrong about this).

And we were off. It was a long slow wade in at the back of pack due to the extended shallow surf. Once we got swimming I immediately started passing people making me realize I should've placed myself in the middle of the pack. I repeated tried to get into my freestyle rhythm but found myself thrown off time and again as I came up onto peoples feet and squeezed between other swimmers.

Once we passed the first buoy I found some open water and got my groove on. Looking up every 20 or 30 strokes had me thinking that the 2nd buoy seemed very far away, but my navigation was good so I just plugged away. Halfway through I started passing other individuals in my wave as well as a couple from the preceding wave which gave me a bit of a boost. I was all alone for the turn around the second buoy.

Knowing I was in the home stretch I picked up my pace slightly. I had made up my mind to swim until could touch bottom with my hands and closer to shore I started passing a few folks who were wading chest deep. Several of them decided to start swimming again as well.

Before I knew it I was climbing out of the water onto the sand.

Start in the middle of the pack. My swim times are slow, typically 2:15 to 2:20 per 100 yds in the pool. But I feel I'm faster in the open water. And with lots of poor swimmers and others doing breastroke at the back of the pack I need to position myself ahead of them to start.

Other than that I need to improve my swimming technique and increase my speed to even consider bringing home a respectable swim time.

The trek from the waterline (HR 166bpm), up the sand and stairs to the boardwalk (HR 190bpm) and barefoot run across the street, down a sidewalk next to a condo tower, around the corner to transition probably took me 3:00+ minutes at a slow jog. I was trying to get my heart rate under control so I wasn't redlining as I mounted the bike. All of this time was included in the swim time.

The 3:17 in transition was spent toweling off (no more than 10 sec) so that I could get my tech tee on my body. Spraying water on my feet and then drying them to prevent blisters (I've had bad problems with this training with swim>bike/run bricks). Sunglasses on, helmet on, socks on, shoes on. To my surprise my wife comes in to transition only a minute or two after me so I know she had a good swim.

I jog to T1 exit and stop at the mount line to get one foot clicked in and got rolling.

Dry myself faster. Getting a full tri suit as opposed to the tri-shorts/tech top combo would make things faster. For a sprint length I would also not be as concerned about getting my feet try and just deal with the guaranteed post-race blisters. The blisters wouldn't be so bad that I couldn't finish a 5k.

Exiting the resort I was able to get into a steady spin. I reeled in a few rides, even several on drop bar bikes. Unfortunately they were not in my category. I was having a blast on this section of the course, and even rang my h-bar mounted bell at one of the deputies who got a good laugh out of it. And I'm sure I was the only rider who jumped the table-top speed bumps. As a former BMXer and downhill MTBer it was fun to get air in a road triathlon.

I intended to keep my heart rate at or below 180bpm as I didn't want to go anaerobic before the run and wanted my legs fresh for those final 3 miles. This being a flat course it was easy to keep constant power, which is a blessing and curse. Without a proper warmup (I typically take 20-30 minutes to get my legs warmed up on a ride) I found my quads and hamstrings burning pretty early in the ride. Now, I'm used to this and can push through it but I was concerned about my legs being toast for the run. So I took it a little easy and geared down to keep my HR under 180bpm as I fought the headwind on the backside of the course.

About 20 minutes in I sucked down my gel. I wasn't sure that I needed to take in nutrition for the 90min or so competition, but I knew it wouldn't cause me any GI issues so I ate as a precaution only.

In the last 1/2 mile or so I started to reel in another cyclist but decided not to pass him as we were approaching the turn into the resort and I didn't want to get stuck in a drafting situation. So I followed him in to T2.

It should be noted my steed for this race is my bang-around town 35lb hardtail Franken-MTB with 4" riser bars, a 29er rigid fork (with 26" front wheel), a Mavic EX729 downhill rear rim, 1100g 2.5" Maxxis Hookworm rear tire, etc. It's a beast. But I use it for all my paved riding - everything from bashing up curbs to bike path rides to 35+ mile road rides. So one thing I would do differently is have nice, light, aerodynamic road or Tri bike.

Knowing now that my wife had a faster bike split than I did - which should not have happened - I would've pushing through the quad burn to lower my time. I had this mantra of "It's not a bike race" going in my head, and I think that it made me slower on the bike than I should've been.

I also would've passed the guy at the end. I easily could've put the hammer down before we hit the final turn, or even blown by him as we hit the speed bumps. I think I was too focused on keeping my legs fresh for the run.

I unclipped and did a slow, moving dismount. Jogged to rack the bike, helmet off. My wife comes barreling in 30 seconds after me. Holy $#!T. She's kicking butt. Never mind that: bike shoes off, sneakers on, sprayed my head with water and with my wife long gone (she had no shoe change) headed out of transition to see if I can catch her.

Took too long. Putting cycling shoes on pedals would help. Elastic lace system on sneaks would help too. I had forget to bring a small water bottle for the run, which I had intended to dump at mile one.

Legs. Like. Lead. OK, it really wasn't that bad. But there were these tiny hills at the beginning that seemed like mountains. I was really just trying to keep my heart rate in check for the first two miles. I can push pretty hard beyond threshold, but not for a long time. And I knew that my final kick would put me over 200+ bpm for several minutes and if I spent much time going anaerobic prior to that kick I would crash.

So I chopped away for the first 3/4 mile. Started to find a groove and saw my wife head and knew she was having knee issues. I felt bad know that she wasn't going to have her best run due to that. But not bad enough to not pass her as she stopped to tie her shoe.

I slowed to pick up water at mile one aid station, but probably didn't need it, and ran right by on the return trip.

Once I turned back into the resort I started to pick up the pace. I knew I only had five minutes or so of running so I start to let my HR drift up. I passed on or two racers, and as I started the ascent towards the condo towers I kicked again. My heart rate was 202bpm at this point so I stopped checking and just pushed towards the finish.

As I turned the corner towards the finish chute I saw the time of over 1:32 and was slightly disappointed since my "reach" goal was to get under 90 minutes. Hitting the finish carpet the announcer pronounced my name correctly, which at the time I was more happy about then actually finishing the race.

I grabbed a water bottle and started over to my transition spot to grab my phone so I could get a picture of my wife's finish. Out of the corner of my eye I see her round the corner so there was no time.

I wouldn't do much differently.

I did the first stand alone 5K of my life in July and finished in 32:45. So my pace for the Tri (three months later) was at or slightly better than the standalone. I'll take that.

I need more time to improve my running. I'll never be "fast", but I can improve greatly over where I'm at. It'll come.

Finished my water bottles, ate a banana immediately. Laid out my towel in the grass beside transition and stretched my back, legs and calves. I chatted briefly with the race director and thanked him. And then found out that the race clock was from the start of Wave 1, meaning my 1:32+ finish time was actually under 90 min since I was in Wave 2 three minutes back. Cool.

I also talked with and thanked the head official, who said it was tough to write up penalties due to the fact that the bikes did not have race numbers on them and racers were not required to where their numbers on the bike leg. Body markings were not enough to determine who was who in the heat of the moment.

After packing up transition we did a quick change near the car and headed into the post-race party.

Being a sissy about eating hot food, rice and (spicy) beans would not have been my first choice as a post race meal. But it was tempered somewhat by the four foamy beers. We stuck around for most of the award ceremony, and learned that if my wife had entered the Athena division instead of First-time she would've won the 39 and under category. That made me pissed that we miscalculated her finish time so badly before the race, but I was happy she performed so well.


Not being an endurance athlete.

I use my HR monitor as a tool to keep me from pushing too hard. I used it in all my training so I'm very in tune with how I feel at certain intensities and how long I can maintain them. I do wonder if I'm being to conservative in my approach, though.

A lighter, faster bike would help. A lighter, faster body would help too.

Transitions can be easily improved. I focused on being deliberate for this first race. Next time I can work on speed, and incorporate more tranny practice.


Overall it was a fun first race. Unless life interferes we plan to do this Tri next year, as well as a few others in Georgia.

It's a little weird doing a first race at the end of the season, but it gives me time to work on weaknesses (everything). Lots to work on in the off-season.