Women's Only Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was satisfied with my swim. I hadn't been in the pool for about 2 1/2 weeks because of some mild bronchitis, so I wasn't sure how I'd react. But the 3 heats before me were definitely less experienced swimmers, so that gave me some confidence. We swam laps in the pool - 2 people to a lane. So not too crowded or choppy. I really tried to focus on staying relaxed, keeping my breathing patterns, and not worrying about what the others in the pool were doing. I think I was second out of the water in my heat.

I would tie the drawstring on my shorts tighter! Everytime I pushed off the wall, I felt like they were getting looser. Very distracting!

Good transition. Glad that I had covered stuff with plastic. I decided last second to put on a long-sleeve shirt over my suit, to hopefully keep me a little warmer and wick away the rain. Also decided last second to not use any glasses; they fogged and got wet as soon as I put them on. Discovered at this moment that I had forgetten to hook up my bike computer. It was nice & dry and safe & sound in the ladies locker room. Bummer!

Remember that bike computer!

I was happy with this ride. It might have been a blessing in disguise that I forgot my computer. I wasn't constantly worried about my speed; I could just go for it based on my exertion. I was so glad that I had ridden the course earlier. There were many stretches where I didn't see any other riders or volunteers, but I was still confident that I was following the race course correctly.
I was, not surprisingly, passed by several ladies. But I also managed to do some passing myself. Who would have thought that I would be saying "on your left" on MY bike going uphill?!
Even though I was feeling good throughout the ride, I stopped quickly, as I had planned, at about 5.5 miles to have another gel and water. I wanted to stick to my plan, and not overestimate my stamina.

Ride a different bike! Goin' bike shopping next spring...

Felt kind of clumsy racking my heavy bike after the ride. Just had to change my helmet to hat. No problem.

Nothing.

My legs felt remarkably not-too-worn-out after my ride (maybe I should have gone harder?) I took it out nice and easy to conserve my energy; I wanted to finish without having to walk (other than at the water station). I was feeling good after mile 1 and decided to pick it up slightly. When I saw my 9:25 split on my watch for mile 2 I was floored - that's a 5K mile for me! So I thought for sure that I would fizzle during mile 3. But I kept feeling good. With about a half mile to go, I hear "Go Mommy!" and my husband and daughters are driving down East Street cheering me on. Not many people got drive-by cheers. I finished really strong, and thought it was so cool to hear my name called over the PA system. I tried to look like a stud for the photographer. :)

Maybe start to push a little harder earlier. I really underestimated how much I had left in the tank for the run.

Standing around talking to my husband and kids. Drank Powerade and a Snickers Bar. I deserved that Snickers!


I am really happy I did this race - and even tried triathlons this summer. I predicted that I would come in around 1:50:00, since this was my first sprint; so I feel like 1:37:44 was crushing for me. :) If you would have told me a year ago that I'd be swimming, biking, and running competitively, I would have said you were crazy! Nice to know I can set a challenging goal for myself and go for it...
This was the first year that the YMCA put on this race. I hope they continue to hold it, whether it's women's only or coed. They mentioned changing the swim start method, which would be good. Some ladies had to wait nearly 2 hours before their heats started, even though there were only 100 people racing.