Was My First Triathlon of the Year A Success?

Sprint triathlons are funny because you think they’re going to be short. Compared to Olympic, Ironman, or those crazy ultra races, they ARE short… but if you came up alongside me during the race and said so, I’d probably kick you in your shin! Yes, they’re shorter than other races but that doesn’t mean they’re easy. It still takes training, wisdom, restraint, and forethought for these races. I actually love going through the race in my mind to make sure I have all the equipment organized and to plan what I’ll do in the transitions. I do that about a thousand times in the days leading up to a race.

That might be what added to the anxiety I felt before my first sprint triathlon of 2024. It took place in Defuniak Springs, Florida which is about an hour northwest of Destin. I’m becoming more confident in my abilities for each of the three disciplines – swimming, biking, and running… but if you’ve followed my blogs recently and read along about my tri experiences, you know that as much as MC Hammer’s weakness is sweetness, my weakness is swimming.

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The Swim. The lake for this swim was small so I knew that would help me stay calm, being able to see shorelines and people and trees and buildings. Open water swimming is so much different than a pool! The biggest decision for the swim was whether or not to wear a wetsuit, as we were told beforehand that the water temperature was over 80°. Each racer used their own discretion, some really good swimmers opting to go without a wetsuit but I ended up using mine. I didn’t want to jeopardize my entire race by panicking in the water which would have wrecked my morale. Once I was swimming, I knew I made the right decision for me because of the buoyancy alone. This swim was equal to the longest I’ve done in a race but my experience couldn’t have been more different than the other one. It was so much better, not having to stop to catch my breath at all and also not needing to swim on my back either. I’m not saying it was easy, but it was easier… thanks to two pieces of advice given to me from athletes I admire: 1. Think about my form and 2. Don’t kick. Kicking is something I thought was just always part of swimming the right way but once I stopped kicking, everything changed. It’s been such a boost of confidence to see my swimming improve, I can’t even explain how encouraging it is. I’m starting to believe I can do longer races, which is a scary thought, too. I also have a tendency to veer to the left but looking up every 5 to 10 strokes helped keep me mostly on target with the buoys.

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The Bike. Thanks to Body Glide (used it for the first time), I was able to strip off my wetsuit a lot easier than I expected. Dripping wet, I chose to forego socks, putting my cycling shoes on and running with my bike out of the transition to start the cycling portion. I love this part of the race because of the energy I feel going from the relatively slow swim speed to the exact opposite on the bike. Water still splashing off as I race through the first couple of miles. This is where reality sets in and I realize there are still 14 miles to go. Settling in to a comfortable speed, not worrying about who is or isn’t passing me. In this race, I felt fatigue on mile 6 then again around mile 12. I try not to let my morale dip when a faster cyclist passes me and actually, it is something that makes me laugh. Almost every time I get overtaken, I think to myself, “Keep that person in my sights and slowly catch them.” More times than not, I look up again and they’re gone… so far ahead I can’t even remember what they look like! 😜 Strong legs on these athletes, let me tell ya.

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This is the first race I tried a rolling dismount and except for a little confusion on where the dismount line was, it went well. I was able to keep most of my forward momentum even though I lost one of those little rubber cleat covers from the bottom of my left shoe, dang it! I was running on metal all the way back to my spot in the transition area.

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The Run. Switching from bike to run is usually quicker than swim to bike because racers only need to change shoes, remove the helmet, and maybe snag an energy gel or something. The elite athletes will do this transition in 30 seconds or less, a feat I still can’t fathom. One guy in this race had his shoes off before he even dismounted his bike! Others, like myself, are efficient but still working through a practiced method of swapping cycling shoes for running shoes in the transition area. Going without socks, I wasn’t sure how the run would feel even after the no-sock cycling was barely noticeable. I got out of the transition with a decent pace and basically just held it the whole time. Flashing back to the start of the entire race… I try to start somewhere in the middle of the pack. That way I can focus on catching people ahead of me, a strategy that keeps my mind thinking positively. If I were to start in the front and get passed by 50 people, the discouragement would deflate a lot of the motivation I had before the race started. So starting in the middle gives me a chance to see people ahead of me and work towards catching them, even if people are passing me as I do that. This race also had a lot of people along the course cheering us on. If you’ve ever done a race at all, you know how awesome that is.

I didn’t catch up to every runner I saw ahead of me but I finished feeling mostly good about my effort. I think I could’ve pushed harder to shave off another minute but I’ll use that info for the next race. Here are a few pics taken by a fellow triathlete who was there to cheer us on, which was much appreciated (thanks Daniel!). Then scroll down for my goals and stats from the race…

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I make goals for every race based on previous races, training data, and course info. Here is how this race wrapped up…

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My next sprint triathlon is about a 5 weeks away so I’m already starting to think and plan ways to reach new goals and if you’ve read my triathlon posts before, you know what that means. I get to make a new training calendar! I still laugh that after my first sprint triathlon, I swore I’d never do another one. But these races are just… 2 legit 2 quit.

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-Out of the Wilderness