Swim, bike, run

This was my second sprint triathlon, and third triathlon overall.

I racked my bike early, and was impressed by the bikes of the other triathletes. My bike isn't anything special (aluminum frame, carbon forks), as I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a bike that would mostly hang in the garage.

I had a cup of coffee, and a bit of a pastry while waiting for the race to start. The swim was run in heats, so I watched the first swimmers. I checked out the transition areas to see where I'd be entering and leaving.

My heat assembled. There were five of us in my lane, and we did two lengths to warm up. The race started. I was second in line. Someone tapped my foot to signal that they wished to pass within a few lengths, and then we settled into our positions for the remaining laps.

In my first race, I'd gone out too fast, and was out of breath for much of the swim. This time, I relaxed, and tried to focus on taking big strokes. I'd been keeping up my swimming even while training for the London marathon this past winter, and had upped my training a bit in the six weeks betweem the marathon and this triathlon.

I finished in 16:37. This was one minute faster than my previous sprint.

The bike was fine. I tried to get up to speed right out of the start, and then settle into a steady pace. I was passed by some, and ultimately passed others. All in, the 20k bike took 45:39.

I had a good transition for the run (38 s.), and was off. The run was two laps, with a steepish hill at the start. It was sunny and warm. I passed more people here than passed me, and finished the 5k in 23:02.

All in, I was 1:27:56. This put me in the bottom half of the field, but I enjoyed the event.

And now my bike is back hanging in the garage.