Pawling Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

This was my first open water swim. What I was unprepared for and freaked me out is...I was doing OK at the start, a little bit awestruck about swimming in a pack, I remember actually apologizing to someone for bumping them (ugh!) but someone else seemed a little panicky and they grabbed a hold of my shoulder and dragged me under. This really freaked me out. I can pack ride on a bike and that took me some time to get used to so I just need to suck it up and get more experience and join the swimming scrum. So for the rest of the swim I did a combo of freestyle and backstroke. Everytime I went to freestyle I quickly caught the back of the pack but was too freaked to make my way through people so I slacked off. Then got caught by the next wave and let them pass through and tried to stick pretty close to the back of that wave. Also had some difficulty sighting and became a little disoriented a few times.

Train more. Train in open water. That was part of the plan that got derailed due to weather and injury. Also, just suck it up. While swimming strength could have helped me pull through this it really was 90% mental. About a third of the way in, as I caught a glimpse of the lifeguards I thought, "Maybe I need to get them to haul me out of here. Now." Then the I got back to business and made my way through it. Next chance in 2 weeks...

I was planning on a mad scramble through T1. When I hit the shore, I just wanted to take it easy and rest up. I think I still maintained a trot as I had a long way to my rack. Switching gear went smoothly. It was tougher than I thought to run with the bike but I was pretty quick.

Register early and get a rack closer to the bike exit.

Being in wave 9 and getting passed on the swim by wave 10, there weren't many people behind me at this point. Got up to speed and felt great. Started passing people left and right. 2 big mistakes: 1) Not preriding the course, 2) Not checking my FD setup. I planned on not even shifting up front, then tried to shift to the small ring on the climb. I'm not really used to the bar end shifters and the limit screw wasn't set right and I tossed the chain to the inside. Had to hop off and put the chain on. Luckily, I was pretty good at getting going again on an uphill which can be tough. I made up a lot of time on the bike, only a handful of people passed me.

Fix my FD, just climb in the big ring like I had planned.

T2 was easy, just a long run with that bike. Is the bike exit/bike entrance always at the same spot? This seems to present an unfair advantage to rack location.

Nothing.

I knew the run would be my strongest leg. The first half mile was brutal but I knew from doing a little brick training that it would be tough at first coming off the bike. After the first half mile I got my legs under me and felt great. I wish they timed transitions here, just for bragging rights, I guess or to have a better comparison to my normal 5k time. My Garmin said I was at a 7:00 pace most of the way so I was surprised to see 24+ min (= +t2 time) but when comparing my rank it makes sense, i.e. top 25% of field. It was nice having a lot of volunteers and spectators on the run. I felt strong through the entire run, maybe one or two guys passed me. A spectator tried to tempt me into sprinting after a guy 20 yards in front of me as we got near the finish but luckily I realized this was a bad idea and didn't give in.

Nothing really. More training and fitness will bring a better time but I'm pretty happy if I can get near a 7 min pace after the swim and bike. I'd like to flirt with a 20min 5k time sometime this season outside of a triathlon.

Complain to my supporters how hard the swim was a wolf down a sandwich and some pasta.


Swim - skill, experience, and mental, mostly mental


It was great to get my first triathlon under my belt. I thought the volunteers were awesome. I wish they would have timed transitions so I'd have better timing for future comparison/improvement.