Pewaukee Sprint Triathlon, in Pewaukee Wisconsin.
Got up at 4 to make it to the race site early. Setup my bike, got timing chip, and all that jazz and was ready on the beach. Wave 25 of 31 because I registered late.
.2mi swim was fine, however there was not a lot of time between waves, so by the time wave 25 came around, there was still 6 waves of SLOW people ahead of me. I'd swim 20 yards, and then spend all my time bobbing and weaving through the slower swimmers. Second, the swim was an out and back. The second half headed straight east into the sun. It was impossible to see anything! I had trouble sighting because of the sun and had to rely on the buoys which caused me to bob and weave a little too much. I think my swimming will improve if I follow this training plan more closely.
T1 was fine. However I didn't realize how tired I was from the swim until I started jogging to my bike. My rack had only 2 people at it after the swim, but I couldn't find my bike! I realized those two people belonged to the previous heat, and my bike was another rack over. That added to my confidence some when I realized that I had caught nearly everyone in the heat ahead of me as well.
The bike was very strong. It was a rolling course, and one long stretch was straight into a stiff wind. My new aerobars are in (XXX lites), but they don't do much good unless I install them eh? I drank a bottle of cytomax on the bike. Halfway through I realized I had brought 2 bottles ... so I ended up carrying a bottle extra the whole bike. I considered dumping it, but I had just cleaned my bike and didn't want to get sugar water all over it.
T2 was also good, however my lesson learned was not to unclip when entering T2, but to take your feet out of your shoes and leave them clipped in. I was trying to run with my shoes on and that wasn't such a hot idea.
The run was rough. I am not a runner, nor have I trained for running much. The first mile did take a little adjustment as expected. Mile two was a little rough, some steep hills. Mile three was flat and to the finish. I wish the last mile would have been marked a little better, the finish all of a sudden just appeared.
Overall, I thought that it was a very successful day. of the roughly 1600 entrants I placed 80th, 13th in my age group, I am 24. I was especially encouraged to see that fropping 3 minutes off my time would have placed me in the top 50. Those three minutes are easily attainable with a less crowded swim and a better trained run.
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