North Shore Triathlon - Triathlon

The water was a bit warmer than I was hoping. Very low swells and I couldn't find their rhythm to coordinate my breathing. At one point, I turned to breathe and breathed in a ton of water. I felt like I had to cough and was barely holding it together. I was able to stay calm and keep moving forward. I'm happy I made it through that. I had a lot of contact on this swim for some reason. It was also very short and by the time I was finding a good rhythm and ready to go catch some people, it was over. I did better with sighting this time as well. I know I can swim faster than this and will aim for a sub 8 at this race next year. Swim time includes a pretty good run to transition. I'd guess 200 m.

Start out faster. A lot of my contact on this swim was due to passing people. I need to practice swimming the first 100-200 m of a swim fast and then finding my pace.

Ouch. Need to work this out a bit. This transition was a little bigger than I'm used to at the small Xterras. It was still good practice though.

I dunno...go faster?

I started out feeling pretty good. A little disoriented from the colder than I'm used to swim, but good. The rain started about 2 miles in and didn't stop until I got home after the race. That slowed me down a bit. It didn't rain hard, but enough to make the 2nd loop VERY wet and I was getting a lot of water thrown in my face from my front tire. I realized too late that I had a lot left in the tank and I definitely could have pushed this a lot harder. I will know for next time though. I felt great and had fun. I'm very happy with this time. Not bad for a cyclocross bike with mountain bike shoes in the rain. Definitely need to go faster here. That is my biggest takeaway.

Go faster!!! I had a lot left in me. This was my first road tri (I usually do Xterras) so I wasn't sure how to pace this. I realized at the turn around on the 2nd loop that I had a lot of gas left and very little course. So I shirted up and put the hammer down. I should have been in that gear the whole race.

My darn shoe got stuck! Couldn't get my right shoe to slip on. Might be because it was soaking wet. Might be because these shoes aren't meant to be slipped on. Whatever. I got them on.

Move quicker.

I was in the first wave of many which I was glad for after it started raining. It also meant I didn't have that many people to battle on the bike. The run is where I wished I had some people in front of me to chase. I was out of people to catch in the first 1/2 mile. Right about when my shoe came untied. I decided to leave it and run with an untied shoe. Worked ok! I also got a horrible side stitch around mile 1 and had to slow down a bit to get some air in me and then keep going. I think if there had been some people to race with during this portion, I could have gotten below 19. After I passed two people at the beginning, I didn't see anyone else for the rest of the run. I know I can do better. Hopefully I can get with a lead group for the next sprint and run with them.

Focus on turnover for the first 1/4 mile and start to stretch out the stride instead of turnover for the first 1/2 mile. I could have slipped into a comfortable stride sooner, but didn't want to push it.

Walked around, ate a bagel, talked to some other racers, found my dad who came down to see me, changed out of my soaking wet clothes after I started shivering.


I don't think the rain played that big of a factor. Everyone had to race in the same conditions. My biggest problems on the bike were 1) being too conservative with the pace 2) I was on an entry level cross bike so the guys on the $5k tri bikes had a bit of an advantage (I know it's about the motor, but a few mph extra just for having better equipment is nice) 3) not knowing how to pace a sprint. I definitely feel that I am capable of a better time. Now I know for next time!


For an inaugural race this went down pretty good. I'll be looking to do this again next year!