Did not swim my fastest, but then again my fastest would only be about a minute less. Felt the pace was just right; being in the third wave allowed me to watch other races and I realized many seemed "hammered" just coming out of the pool. I definitely did not want to look or feel like that!

Was a bit conservative since I had never done a tri before (actual race or training) so did not want to let my adrenaline take the front seat. Next tri I will most likely go a little faster. My SPL's were awful, even worse than in training; didn't really know why.
I took 50 seconds longer than expected, but do not regret the "ad-hoc" change in strategy.

I was surprisingly fast at transition, made sure to look back as soon as I left the pool and was glad to realize that I was not the last 30-34 male out of the pool; there were about 3 or 4 swimmers still in there.

Gotta learn that clipped in shoe technique; I've done it before to moderate success, but the start of the bike was short downhill right out of transition, so I didn't think it would be an "optimal" place to try it out.

I beat my expected time by 5 min. and still felt I wasn't going too hard. Maintained good cadence and form and avoided trying to stand on the pedals too much, specially on those long climbs.

My gears suck; I could not ride with the biggest cog on the biggest chainring (something that a road bike should do) so had to do more shifting than usual. I have one of those triple chainring road bikes, which is great for training and getting home since I live in a steep mountainous area, but terrible for racing.

I managed to catch a few riders and avoided getting passed by anyone in my age group. Not that there were many behind me after the swim anyways. :)

Rode the last 200 m before the transition area in granny gear (small chainring); this part was very steep, and most people were either pushing hard on the bike or just walking/running with bike alongside.

I'm happy with the way I rode, drank and ate. This part of the race felt more natural for me.

I need to get aerobars, though.

Didn't do the remove-shoes-while-on-bike-thing; need to practice that one too. But still had a relatively fast transition.

Not much.

Here's the section I had greatest concern over. A week earlier my Illiotibial Band had been acting up, after a few months of lengthy recovery. I was not even sure at the very beginning if I would run at all; had actually thought of doing just the bike and the swim. Had not run in over a week, just to see if I would "recover" for this race.

My tactic worked! I started slowly and ran the first 5k worrying about my injury. When I reached kilometer 5 (@ 36:00 min) and realized my leg felt fine, I decided to let loose. Did the last 5k at (24 min, which is pretty fast for my standards) and ended with a high note and NO PAIN.

In spite of my slow run split, I did not get passed by anyone from my age group---didn't pass anyone either.

The psychological side of being injured is almost as difficult as the physical side. I could not discern between "listening to my body" or "listening to my mind". I ran excessively conservative in the first 5k, trying to see how my knee reacted. But with injury recovery, I guess you can never just prematurely assume you are OK or over it. Your body has to prove it to you. Mine hasn't completely proven it to me yet, so my mind plays little tricks on me. Still I felt soooo good on the last 5K.
GOODBYE ITBS (I think).

Walked around a bit, got food, drinks and hugs. Enjoyed the atmosphere, enjoyed officially becoming a triathlete. Did lots of stretching.


SWIM: need to improve technique, reduce SPL's
BIKE: need to lose weight again and regain fitness
RUN: same as bike, need to continue nursing my knees so this I can come back stronger.


The country's oldest and best triathlon! The competition level was excellent. Not many slow people, like me.

Though the highlight of my race was the experience of becoming a triathlete and also completing this race, I am a happy man because the icing on the cake was winning a DVD player at the raffle before the awards ceremony. Sweet!

Next tri: Olympic on 14 nov.

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