I did exactly what I told myself not to do as I was standing in line waiting for my start (time trial start), which was go out too fast instead of swimming at my own pace. Over-excitement coupled with worry about being too slow and backing up those behind me led to me going out way too hard, ended up having to stop and compose myself at a wall in the shallow end of the pool and then continue with the swim. Having to dive under the lane markers also disrupted my breathing pattern. At one point all I could think was "I cannot believe this is happening..."

Swim at the pace I know I am comfortable maintaining. I have swam 1500 yards continuously so I know that I was in shape for the swim, just made some correctable mistakes. The swim was where I learned the most in this, my first triathlon.

Took a moment to compose myself in transition after the poor swim. This was key, as I was able to tell myself that there is still a lot of racing to go and that the day was not going to be a loss because of a sub-par swim. By the time I exited transition my attitude was back where it needed to be and I was looking forward to the bike.

I don't have clipless pedals so I laced up my running shoes which took some additional time.

Saw my wife on the way into transition, let her know everything was ok.

I lost time due to having to talk myself down after the swim. Othewise not bad, things went as I had planned for the transition.

The bike went as planned. Obviously I have a lot of room for improvement but with only 4 real weeks of training for this event I am happy with the performance.

With my head cleared from the swim disaster I enjoyed the bike, rode at a comfortable pace, drank enough water and when I hit the turn around was very pleased to see I was almost exactly where I had hoped to be time-wise. The second half of the ride went as planned, was able to maintain a constant pace throughout the relatively flat course.

Just train more to improve my ability to perform.

Not much to say here, dismounted, ran into transition, racked the bike, quick sip of water and then out for the run.

Not much...

I ran out of transition, said hi to my wife and set out for the run. Actually felt pretty good starting out, pulled back on the pace a bit as a long, gradual uphill started the course. Felt my HR getting to high and was able to back off and get back to where I needed to be. The run was hillier than the bike, much hillier but I was able to maintain a good pace, passed several people walking the hills and was very surprised with how fast the run went by. Made a turn and was told that there was 1/2 mile to go when, in reality it was more like 1/4 of a mile. I would have stepped up the pace earlier and saved a few seconds, but overall very happy with my run after the swim and bike.

Not much, just continue to train and get the overall pace lower.

Took a pic with my wife, sat down, drank some water, ate some pizza, stretched a little bit.


Poor swim due to improper pacing.


A very nice event hosted by the University of Dayton Triathlon Club. I was very impressed with the way the students/volunteers ran this event and will certainly look to participate again next year.

Overall, a great first triathlon and a learning experience. I said that my "perfect race" would be a 1:15:00 overall and I finished in 1:16:49, even with the poor swim performance. I had a great time and am looking forward to my next race...