Glenwood springs tri - TriathlonSprint

Hot springs pool. Man! the warmth really made me feel sluggish. I finished about a minute slower than expected. 7 lengths of the Glenwood hot springs pool. (+/- 900 yds. total) We were sent off in waves of about 50 swimmers of mixed ability. This was so the field could spread out. Swimming is my thing, so I got on the heels of a couple of guys during the first length. We separated ouselves from the rest quickly. I let them go because I was afraid of going out too quick, but the end result is that I had clear going with no one in front or behind me for 90% of the race. 3rd out of the water in my heat.

In hindsight, I could have gone out a bit quicker. Also, I think I should have concentrated more on lengthening my stroke. Low turnover with max. distance per stroke would be a good strategy in the warm water. Also, I forgot to start my watch at the beginning of the race, so I had no Idea what my times and splits were.

First Tri, so that makes this my first ever transition. A LOT of time can be made up here in the future. Also, I forgot a couple of things. I was going to have a GU here and pop a couple of Advil (for my knees during the run), but forgot both. Rookie mistakes. I may have been 3rd out of the water, but I bet I was 8th or 9th out of T1 (yikes!)

Practice transitions. This sounded silly to me before, but so important now. I easily could have dropped 3-4 minutes off my overall time w/ decent transitions.

Really wasn't sure how hard to go out on this, because I knew I needed something left for the run. Not bad, but prolly could have pushed it a little more, especially on the downhills. About as many people passed me as I passed, so I guess I held my own.

Took two water bottles (one gatorade and one water) and only made it through the one. So that means the second was just dead weight. Also, I'll have to try training w/out socks. Thsi would help my transition times.

Again, first tri, so I was pretty slow. I did remember the Advil this time, but spaced the GU again. Almost left the transition area with my biking gloves on.

practice transitions. I didn't even try a transition once before this race.

Running is my nemesis. My knees and ankles don't take kindly to the high impact (compared to my beloved swimming). My limitations tend to be leg pain and not cardio capacity. Somewhere in mile 2, my left knee and ankle started to twinge and I thought "oh no, I'm gonna fall apart and limp home". It didnt help that there was a lot of sidewalk running with uneven curb cuts screwing up my gait. Anyway, somewhere during mile 3, I think the Advil kicked in, or I was able to alter my stride, but somehow I started to work out of the knee twinge. Miles 4 and 5 felt great and I'm positive I negative split the second half of the race by quite a bit. (YEA!)

Just streached a little and drank a lot of water.


inexperience. I finished with a little left in the tank, so I should have gone a bit harder. I just didn't want to bonk my first time, so I think I was a little conservative.


I placed 7th out of 39 first timers, so I am really happy about that! I think all events should give the rookies a chance to see how they stack up aginst one another. What a spectacular event and venue. This should be called the Glenwood "If youve never done a Tri and are looking for your first one" Triathlon. Well organized. Great picnic afterwards. All and all, a great experience. I AM HOOKED!