Bartlett Lake Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

The start was from knee-deep water and went around three bouys and back to shore. I started swimming at the speed of the pack, and I was holding my breath. I was breathing every 8-10 strokes instead of every other stroke. I was fatigued from too fast a pace and improper breathing after the first 100 meters. I slowed a bit and got my breathing under control, but it was another 100 meters before my body got back to normal. I did a version of this in my first triathlon last week, but this was far more extreme. Live and learn. Once I got back in a rhythm, sighting the second bouy was very tough because it was directly in line with the rising sun. While the sunrise was beautiful, I kept slowing down to find the bouy instead of trusting it was where I knew it was. Due to my horrible start, I did not have enough oomph to turn it on at the end. While closing in on the shore, Olympic distance swimmers had completed their first lap of a larger loop, which caused me to have to dodge them as they swam perpendicular to my path. The swim time also includes me putting on my cycling sandals while on shore because there was a decent run to T1 over rocky sand. It wasted two minutes messing with them.

I enjoyed the swim even though my performance was poor.

Completely change my first 100 meters to include swimming at my pace, getting my breathing correct from the first stroke, go a little faster toward the end, trust my original sighting when the bouy is lost in the sun. Run barefoot to T1 and spend 15 seconds putting on my cycling sandals instead of two minutes.

T1 and T2 are included in the bike time. I was slow because I briefly chatted with the guy next to me and gave him some of my food.

Remember this is a time based race in which I want to perform well and not a pot-luck meal.

This was a hard ride!! I was concerned about running out of steam before the final downhill. I immediately started to slowly pass people. I was trying to pace myself and be an encouragement to others, so I would slow my speed slightly to encourage those I was passing. I just kept grinding in my easiest gear at the highest cadence possible. I shifted back in my seat for more leverage on the steeper steep sections. After 4.3 miles of up, there was a .5 mile downhill that I flew down. Then a 1.5 mile steep hill to the turn around. A bit of a crosswind made the climb a bit tougher. I hit my current land speed PR on the big downhill when I briefly hit 31.6 mph. And yes, I did loudly yell, "WOOHOO!!!!!" on the way down. :) The crosswind made the back tire feel like it was going flat. This spooked me since I am fairly new on the bike, and I rode the brakes quite a bit the rest of the way down. I was glad I was doing the sprint because I saw the Olympic distance folks turn around to do round 2 on the hills.

This was a very difficult, yet good, ride.

Give encouragement as I pass others. Do NOT slow my pace to talk with people...it is a race, not a social hour. Maybe, put out a bit more effort while still being cautious of running out of steam on the hills. Try to go faster downhill.

T1 and T2 are included in the bike time. I did fairly well this transition. No talking and no food sharing. Racked the bike, took a big drink, swapped shoes (speed laces are great) and took off!

Nothing.

I started a slow jog up the hill and assumed it would not level off. I quickly added in walking and was soon just walking. I did keep it a very fast walk. I began calling out encouragement to those coming down the hill. This made me feel better and not focus on the steepness of the hill. However, it probably detracted from pushing harder and going into "this hurts" mode. The turn around was at the top of a hill so I ran all of the downhill to the finish line. This "run" course was more like a strenuous hike!!!

I would run more and push just a little harder on the uphill. I crossed the finish line with just a little energy which I could have left on the hill. Run, walk, or drive the course before the race.

I had very limited hill training on the bike and none for the run. I was WAY too social during the race. I can call out encouragement during the race, but socializing only before and after the race or with people going my speed. I had a level of fear that I would push too hard and not be able to get to the top. I did not want a DNF on my second triathlon! I could have eliminated some of the fear by training on the actual course.


It was a good race. I let fear and socializing (not like me at all) slow me down. I will do this race next year and am confident I will show considerable improvement.