The Third Tri’s the Charm (2015 Sprint Recap)

I wonder how many more little catchy sayings I can use with the word “Tri”.

It’s a little further into the season than I’d hoped before my first Triathlon this year, but my plans to do the previous one were changed when I decided to go ahead and do the LASIK surgery (a decision I do NOT regret one bit!).

A couple of big things changed this year: I purchased a triathlon bike and started riding with a group. I also find a super nice friend to actually teach me how to swim freestyle. See, when I said I didn’t know how to swim, I really meant it. Actually, for awhile I thought “freestyle” meant pick whatever stroke you want. I didn’t know it was the name of an actual stroke type.

Now that I’ve embarrassed myself.

Pre-race pic 🙂

The Swim

Distance: .3 miles (600 yards)

Last years fastest time: 17:21

There is something about an open water swim that makes me nervous. I’d done a practice open water swim (I was nervous for that too) and completed up to 1400 meters (almost a mile) without stopping in the pool. I was still nervous. The buoy’s look REALLY far away. The swim warm up did help this time, though. Unfortunately the water was pretty much black so I couldn’t really see anything, but the fact that I knew I could make double the distance in a pool helped me stay focused. I started in the back though, still, and counted 4-5 seconds before I even began. I was pretty close to another girl most of the day – she ended up beating me – while doing the backstroke. Harumph.

This year’s time: 14:36 (almost 3 minutes faster!)

Transition 1:

Last year’s fastest: 1:58

Actually I expected to have a longer transition time this year because I’m “clipped in” (I have bike shoes that literally clip into the pedals), but apparently I managed to get out faster and didn’t stumble too much while trying to get clipped in. Win.

This years time: 1:36

This bike looks prettier than last year

The Bike

Distance: 12 miles

Last year’s fastest time: 40:41

Joining the YMCA Triathlon club and riding 1-2x a week in a group has been a HUGE help and has really made me not only push myself but realize I’m capable of going faster than I thought. There was a bit of a headwind on part of the ride (though not enough to really blame it on anything) and I think that I was a little more cautious than necessary on a couple turns because I hadn’t ridden the route since the year before, but overall I was happy with my average speed.

This year: 36:16

Transition 2

Last years fastest time: 48 seconds

I actually had to change shoes this year (bike shoes to running shoes), so I did add some time this time around.

This year: 1:09

Why yes, I do pay to download race pictures when they are good ones 🙂

The Run

Last year’s fastest time: 25:06

I honestly haven’t been running all that much but I’ve been pretty consistent about speed work so I was really hoping to knock some time off my run. Compared to the previous few days weeks, it was actually pretty cool out at race start, but by the time I got running it had warmed up and the run just felt hard. I stopped to walk a bit once and briefly at all the water stops. Ugh. I hate running in the heat

This year: 25:25

I win! (not really)

Final Standings:

Last year’s fastest time: 1:25:53

This year: 1:18:51

Age Group: 5/10 (missed 4th by 30 seconds and 3rd by 1:45)

Overall Female: 23/84

Swim Overall 53/84 (closer to the middle this time!)

Bike Overall 13/84

Run Overall  30/84