Triathlon - First Tri

Alright so I just got back in town from my first tri. I did Four States out in Texarkana, TX. It was a flat sprint and man was it fun. So i only swam once in the two weeks leading up to the tri and hadn't done an open water swim as a i planned so i was a little nervous walking down into 68 degree water for a 650 swim. Well at eight it started and i made my way into the water and surprisingly felt comfortable with the temp and started swimming. I got about 200 out and started thinking to myself i should have swam a lot for while training so i went from crawl to breast stroke for the next 300 and felt surprisingly efficient and got out of the water with a time of 15:27. T1 was 1:24.1....we had a water hazard moving the mount/dismount line so we had to run out bikes an extra 50 yards thru a flooded road. So i finally got on the bike, which is my strongest and did the 13 miles in 38:31.8. i felt real good on the bike as i passed quite a few people on the out and back. then T2 went smooth taking 0:55.1 and off on the run. At this point my legs were in so much pain as i only did one short brick in preparation for the event. But i take pride in my determination and perseverance and paced my speed with a 66 year old dude that seemed to know what he was doing. I picked it up the last half mile and the burning stopped and my legs to kept going. it was so smooth and finished my run with a time of 24:39.3

So my time was 1:20:57.4 and my only goal was to break 1:30

I was very satisfied with my performance and now know what to work on for my next tri on June 6 in Conway, AR.

Any suggestions

congrats on finishing and achieving your goal!

thanks man. im hoping to cut some more time on the next one. maybe five minutes or so. i havent decided yet

Congrats on the triathlon, yes i do recommend training for the swim a bit more, the whole thing should be freestyle. Could you provide details on the transitions? What were you wearing? etc.

yeah i started breast stroke to rest since i can't swim backstroke in a straight line and found breast stroke more efficient for one leg so i stuck with it, it was a triangular swim. after i made the second turn i started freestyle again.

i wore a louis garneau tri suit that a friend gave me so there was no changing into a bib or shorts or etc. i put my cycling shoes on instead of leaving them clipped on...i figured i'd have to much trouble seeing as i hadnt practiced that and about a quarter mile out i passed a guy who still didnt have his foot in his shoe, which is what would have happened to me. then as i approached the dismount like i pulled my feet out and rode on top on my shoes, which made for a quick dismount. then for the run i pulled my race belt up and slid my shoes on and cinched them good and was off on the run.

when i got there there were not to many open spots in the transition so i grabbed one at the second rack for the bike exit so i would have minimal time running in my cleats on the way out.

overall i liked the tri suit a lot it was comfortable thru all three parts. i have tri shoes for the bike which was easy with the big velcro strap and the speedlaces for my running shoes were a great suggestion from a friend. i would recommend them.

sounds good in transiton. the rest is training.