Swim was awful. I felt alright for the first 25m or so, but then started to lose my breath, I was trying to go slow and just focus on good technique and easy breathing. Didn't help. I ended up flipping over and backstroking for probably about 250 of the 300m. I tried rolling back over for freestyle but it just wasn't happening.

Train more. I could have trained more than I did in the two months since I had decided to do the race, although it would have taken a lot of effort. I really just need to work on my breathing and that will help everything come together.

Took me a little longer than anticipated to get suited up because I was breathing so hard from the swim, but overall I think it went pretty smoothly.

Have more appropriate shoes (proper road shoes pre-clipped to pedals) as this would make the slowest part of T1 the fastest (I have lace up SPDs). I could also better plan clothing choices so as to be able to get dressed more quickly.

As bad as my swim was, this was my downfall. About 2/3 of the way into my first lap, I noticed that my seat was slowly sliding down and by 5/6 of the way into the same lap, it was all the way at the lowest position. I guess that my seat clamp had come a bit loose, and the race being as short as it was, I hadn't brought tools on the track with me. What this meant was that I basically rode at least 2/3 of the ride like a Shriner. To maintain any speed, this meant a lot of work from my quads and a bit of pain for my knee. It also meant that my ass was getting sore because my seat is a pretty firm race-cut seat as I had just swapped it from my "comfort" designed gel seat. I had been cruising at about 34km/h and passed a ton of people up until this happened. I maintained a pace pretty close to 30km/h over the course of the ride, but this killed my legs. It basically felt like I had run the whole ride due to the geometry change.

When I noticed that my seat was a bit crooked in the morning before the race and straightened it without having to loosen it, I would let this clue me in that this means my seatpost is loose and thus needs to be tightened. I would also bring my toolkit with me so that I could handle this eensy repair while on the track very easily.

T2 wasn't too bad, although I almost threw up from the exertion from the legs up ride. I should also get "speed laces" or whatever they're called, although this transition was reasonably quick.

Have proper bike shoes so that I can dismount with the shoes on the pedals to save me a step.

I found it VERY hard to run and get a drink of Gatorade or water. There was an aid station right at the beginning and it didn't work well for me at all. I also ran pretty slowly because I was exhausted from the ride. I did my best and only walked a short distance so that I could actually take a drink. It was kind of funny because I had planned to sprint the end but when I rounded that corner, it was all I could do to keep from collapsing so I just maintained my pace and crossed when I could.

Train longer distances more and do speedwork so that I can get faster runs to be easier.

Mostly tried to avoid heaving. Walked around a bit, ate some oranges and drank Gatorade and water. Got a massage on my quads to prevent them from seizing.


Training and equipment malfunction.


While I said it wasn't a good race, I thoroughly enjoyed doing it and would do it again. I just felt that I basically screwed up with the seat thing and was very frustrated, so it wasn't a race that was reflective of my abilities because I feel I could have shaved a good three or four minutes off my run time and maybe the same off my bike. I NEED to shave about 5 off my swim. I had a ton of fun though and can't wait for next year's race to come around.

Odd thing re split times - they don't give a time for T2, which is weird. I think it's built into the bike time, looking at it.

Thanks to everyone on BT for making my first race a success and helping me learn so much in such a short time!