Did the Kristi Lake Triathlon in Greenville, NC today. Sprint Tri w/ a little 'extra' swim. 1/2mi swim, 15mi bike, 3.1mi run.

Good fun, although I really need to get my butt in the pool more often. 26 minutes for an 800 meter lake swim, ouchie. I've been doing it in less than 20 in the pool, but my goggles weren't sealing nicely, not to mention my horrific zig zagging in the lake. That'll need some work, I'm thinking about looking into some swim coaching, as I know my fitness level isn't the crux, it's my technique.

Overall I'm happy, the bike leg was my best averaging just over 22mph. I rode faster than the guy who won my age group! and passed literally a third of the field when on the bike, without being passed once. Fighting cramping and the epic mass of my 208lb butt a 21 minute run was decent as well. I was having nasty calf cramps on the run start, but just adjusted my stride so I was hitting in an exaggerated heel-first position to ensure my calf's were extended, and by mile 2's start I was feeling fine.

A few tips I picked up from browsing around the web seemed to work great. The elastic speed laces and vaseline in my running flats were awesome. I shot through both transitions faster than the people who I came in with.

To put my swim time into perspective my age group average was around 15 minutes. If I'd have shaved 10 minutes off my swim time I'd have podium'ed for 2nd or 3rd. But, what fun is life if you don't have something to work towards :D

"vaseline in my running flats "


I have not see this ...sounds interesting please go on...

Yeah, I've read/heard from several different sources that many folks will put bodyglide or vaseline on their feet to avoid blistering. I'd never tried it before yesterday, although in retrospect I really coulda used it last year on a self-supported trail ultra (lost half the skin on the bottom of my right foot...)

What I did was apply a liberal amount of vaseline to areas I'm prone to blistering in whilst wearing flats without socks. So at T2 all I had to do was kick off my bike shoes and helmet and slide into my flats, pull the elastic cord and then I was off and running in seconds. Worked great - give it a try sometime.

Your tri sounds very similiar to my first (yesterday)! I completely screwed up the swim; zig-zagged, goggles fogged, etc, (see todays post). Then had a good bike, and fought thru some calf cramps to a decent run. Overall, had a great time, and can't wait to do one again!

Maybe it's an Iowan thing :D I'm a native Iowegian living in North Carolina while serving in the Army. Although, I think the Mountains may have convinced me to stick around down here.

Snuffleupagus: Congrats on the triathlon - you were hauling ass, speed wise, not mass wise :) on the bike.

I'm actually from Wisconsin, but will stay here in Iowa until my kids get out of school, after that, who knows???