Expectations vs Reality;first Tri

I had 2 goals.  Finish and then finish in under 2hrs.  beat both.

I set no goals for my first race last year, other than to finish. I didn't wear a watch or HRM either - I just wanted to focus on the race experience. It was a tough, hilly course and I was thinking during the run I'd be lucky to come in below 2:30. When I came into the chute and saw 2:07 on the time clock I almost cried!

Goals are what got you to TRI! Set one for the race! More than likely your will achieve it!


Best of luck,

Dean

For my first tri last season, I did better than expected -- adrenaline is a beautiful thing... got me so pumped I signed up for another one a month later! Nothing wrong with peeking at last year's results and setting time goals. Just do your best and you'll rock it.

I'm at the age and level of fitness where I know I'll never win a race. That being said, I always have 3 goals for each one I do (and have had them for as long as I can remember):

1. Finish -- with everything that can go wrong, from blown tires to sore knees, this is more of a feat than it may sound;

2. Hit my goal time -- if things go right;

3. Hit my super goal -- like you, I look over last year's results, how I'm feeling, etc., and set a specific time/place mark.

Sometimes all is right with the world and the body, and I kick *** (qualifier -- for me), and sometimes, I don't.

But there's nothing wrong with checking out the competition and seeing what you can do!

Well, I hate to be a downer. My first race I finished, but no where near what my goal was. My second race, still not quite where I wanted to be but I did shave 24 minutes off from my time on the 1st race. My 3rd race I finished ahead of where I wanted to be. It all eventually works out.

I had a goal to finish. I really didn't have much in the way of a time goal. I looked at the last year's results and deterined that the slowest person was 2.5 hours. I figured if I went under 2 hours I'd be doing good. I finished in 1 hour 36 minutes. I blew away my own expectations. I was 12th of 37 in my division.

Of course, now I'm even more nervous to do my second one.

Be well prepared, relax and have fun. Good results will likely follow.

Like most people I did better than expected - adrenaline I guess
Mine was a sprint and I knew I could finish the distance so I set my goal at 1-30.
I came in 1- 24.28 which thrilled me.
I don't really compare myself with others but results were useful because from them I could see that cycling is my strength which I would never have guessed as I just go out and ride by myself in training.

I didn't have any goals besides finish because I had no previous times to base it on.  Oh yeah- I was new to swimming so my goal was to survive the swim.

I had some VERY rough (loose?) goals for my first tri, which was last week. First -- as in, during the early stage of training for this race -- I looked at the range of times for each discipline in my AG from last year's race, just to make sure that I was "in the ballpark" of those who were doing the race. Then I trained towards an average time for each discipline. There was a WIDE range of finishing times for the swim, bike, etc . . . so I knew that shooting for the average would keep me in the range of finishers, but still allow for OWS freakout, blown tires, equipment foul-ups, and all the other stuff which happens in the real world and was most likely behind the slowest times from last year.

Come race day, I had a MUCH slower swim time than I had anticipated, but it was still within the time frame of last year's racers in my AG (in other words, I had an OWS freakout, and it seemed to me that time stopped, but I still got out of the water and up to T1 faster than the slowest person last year). But then I had a much faster bike than I had anticipated, so it worked out.

This time I finished; next time I'm going faster.

I had a "my goal is to finish" attitude, but really I had two time goals for my first sprint last August. I would have been dissapointed if I finished slower than 1:40 and would have been stoked if I beat 1:30. I ended up beating 1:30 and was on top of the world. The part that caught me off guard is that I thought the bike was my weakest leg, but that is what I did the best in, looking at the overall rankings.

I had two goals for my first tri: finish and run the entire time (even if I was really slow).  I made both of those goals.  Finishing was something I knew I could do, whereas running the whole 5k was not something I was sure I could do.  Now, I try to set a goal for being faster than that first race.  My second tri, I wanted to be at least 10 minutes faster and my "if everything goes perfect" plan was to be 15 minutes faster.  I ended up being 17 minutes faster, which made me really happy.  From now on, I'm just going to try to improve my bike pace and my run pace.

In my first tri, my goal was truly just to do the race, do the best I could at the time, and see where the chips fell. I had no expectations, even with a background as a competetive runner. And in reality, because of the structure of the race (SeaFair in '84 -- something like 11 start waves, and me in one of the last ones), I had no idea how I was doing until some one asked me my time, I told them, and they said I did REALLY well (some one I knew from the college, who now is a coach of some renown in the area).

The anxiety over how I was doing relative to others in the age group came after that race...

My goal wasn't to finish, but to beat a time. I figured out the times that each of the events would take during my training, tack on a couple minutes for transitions, add 'em up and that was it. I figured 1:50-1:55. I finished in 1:41:42. So I beat my goal by quite a bit. And I immediately see places that I could have been much faster, like not dropping my sunglasses and having to go back 100 yards to get them. Like not wearing socks. Like not eating during a sprint. Like not lubing up my feet (who cares if I get a blister in a 4 mile run!), like if my goggles didn't leak and I had to stop about 6 times to empty them.

All that probably added up to at least 5 minutes lost. But now I have a target for next time.

I have very lofty goals for only my second tri (first one was 14 years ago) and happens to also be my first HIM.

I'll tell you Monday whether after I hit them.

I have kind of a goofy goal for all my events. I try to finish in at least twice the time it takes the winners! Seems to work at all sorts of distances and events, for me.

And if I've done a course before, I like to see if my time has improved - but that's more curiosity than goal.

Now that I've been training awhile with a group of women, I have to admit that I have a secret goal in my heart of keeping up with "K" - who is close to my age and just a bit more fit and athletic. Sometimes, in some stuff, I am faster....and that feels good!

Just finished my first tri last Saturday. Main goal was to finish and enjoy the race. Mission accomplished! I set some loose time goals based on my training times. I'm a pretty good swimmer, and set some goals based on pool splits. In that area I was dissapointed. OW racing is different, and was new. I didn't really freak out, just didn't swim smooth and relaxed. However, I easily beat both the run and bike goal times, and my overall time was 5 min better than I hoped for. Adreneline (echo), is a wonderful thing. If you've trained. you'll probably do better than you expect.
Have fun!

My first tri was in May. My main goal was to finish, with a secondary goal of finishing under 2 hours, and a tertiary goal of finishing under 90 minutes. I am glad to say that I met all 3 goals.

The most important thing, though, is to have fun! I did that in spades!

Enjoy!

My first tri was two weeks ago and I used last year's results to set my expectations and personal goals for the race. Of course, my goal was to finish (and not be last) but I also set a personal goal based on training times and last year's race results.

I was much slower in the OW swim (kicked in neck and freaked out) but I went faster on the bike than I expected and just average on the run. When I hit mile 2 (of 3) I realized that I could still beat my goal even with the bad swim time and...I DID!!

You will do great. No matter what time you post, you can never repeat your first tri so have fun and set a new PR!!

For my first tri last year, I just estimated the times I expected from what I had done in training. However, they wanted me to predict a swim time. Since I couldn't swim that far when I signed up, I looked at the previous results and guessed myself near the back. As the deadline for changes approached and I was swimming the distance, I updated to my best time so far. My practice times kept improving slightly right up to the race but during the race I was somehow 15 seconds per 100m faster than my best practice. My biking was much faster too. I survived the run which was all I had hoped for. It's a good thing the first race was short enough to be over before my adrenaline ran out!

Like many others have said, my goals for my first were to A) finish, and B) finish in under 90 minutes.  My goals were based on my training times, and were meant to be challenging but realistic. (and I acheived both)