Patriot Sprint Triathlon - Final Thoughts

Before the race I posted some time predictions/goals. Let's take a look at those, with the average pace marked next to each time:

Great Day:

• Swim: 16:00 (2:08/100m)
• Bike: 36:00 (3:00/mile)
• Run: 26:20 (8:28/mile)
• Total: 1:25:20

Good Day: 

• Swim: 17:00 (2:16/100m)
• Bike: 38:00 (3:10/mile)
• Run: 28:00 (9:00/mile)
• Total: 1:30:00

Bad Day:

• Swim: 18:00 (2:24/100m)
• Bike: 40:00 (3:20/mile)
• Run: 29:30 (9:30/mile)
• Total: 1:34:30

Since the swim (1000m) and bike (12.79 miles) were both longer than advertised, I'll compare paces instead of total time.

Swim: 20:43 (2:04/100m)

-How it went: I'm very pleased with the swim; I never felt out of breath or exhausted, though I sure as hell was when I popped out of the water and started running. My strokes were strong and smooth, and I felt like I had my breathing under control. My pace was better than I ever could have hoped. 

-How I can improve: when lining up for the swim, next time I will start in the front instead of the back. I was stuck behind some slow people for the first couple of minutes of the swim and need to be more aggressive and confident in the future. Also, I need to learn to sight better in the water: there were one or two times on the second half of the swim when I realized I was veering off-course a bit and had to adjust. 

Bike: 41:14 (3:13/mile)

-How it went: my pace was between my Good and Bad predictions, but I had not taken into consideration the logistics of racing with other people. During training I'm able to keep a constant pace, but in a race you're constantly passing other people and having to adjust your speed. I pushed very hard on the bike, and am extremely happy with my performance, even if my time doesn't reflect it.

-How I can improve: DON'T SPRINT RIGHT BEFORE TRANSITION! Seeing the crowd pumped me up and I sprinted the last 30 seconds to the transition area, which completely trashed my legs for the beginning of the run. I knew that I needed to slow down for the final minute on the bike and I made a stupid mistake in the heat of the moment. I also want to be more aggressive when passing people in the future; there were a few times where I passed someone and then relaxed for a minute before pushing past the next person. 

Run: 30:01 (9:37/mile)

-How it went: I pushed my body to its limit and left nothing in the tank, so I'm happy with the result of the run even though my time was in the "bad day" category. The first mile was pretty terrible: calves felt on the brink of cramping, quads ached, and I had a stitch in my side. The second mile I "found my running legs", and was able to coast pretty effortlessly. The third mile I felt great and had an 8:30/mile pace, and finished strong. 

-How I can improve: The swim and bike portions felt like races, and I was constantly focusing on catching up to and passing whoever was in front of me. I didn't have this feeling during the run. It's excusable for the first mile while I was hurting badly, but once I found my legs I should have started picking people off one at a time. I need to practice getting into the "race" mentality during individual runs in the future.

Other thoughts

Since I've been focusing on long distance running over the last year, which means going slow and pacing myself, I really wanted to go all out for this race. I didn't want to finish the race thinking "I should have pushed harder". I gave it my all, was near the top of my heart rate the entire time, and had nothing left in the tank when I finished. My legs are evidence of that: they were incredibly sore on Monday, and today they still ache more than they did after I ran the Shamrock Marathon! 

In the 87 days since I decided to do this race I trained 107 times. I bought my first road bike. I started swimming for the first time in 15 years. I woke up sore every morning, went to bed exhausted every night. One year ago the word "triathlete" conjured up images of super-human athletes in a category I could never hope to reach. I proved to myself that with hard work and dedication I can accomplish anything, and I'm proud to now call myself a triathlete.