2012 Papillion Mayor’s Triathlon

2012 Papillion Mayor’s Triathlon Race Report

Swim: They had two waves for the swim start. I was in the second wave anticipating a slow time for the 500m course. Our wave went off four minutes after the first one. Right from the start, the swim was rough. I had heard that triathlon swims get physical but was not prepared for swimming over, around, and through people. But all of sudden, I found open water. ‘Fantastic!’ I thought, and swam and swam, enjoying the open water. After a couple of minutes I thought I should take a sighting stroke to make sure my line was straight. I looked up only to find that I was out in the middle of nowhere, by myself, 50 meters off course. I never got comfortable on the swim. My goggles were fogged up the entire time, so I couldn’t see where I was going, and I ended up taking several backstroke breaks to catch my breath.

Swim: 12:57 (2:35 / 100m)

T1: I was dead after the swim. I walked out of the water and scampered over to the bike rack. Sunglasses, helmet, and I was off

T1: 0:53

Bike: I had rubber banded my bike shoes to my bike so they would stay put as I jogged to the bike mount line. I hopped on my bike and started pedaling with my feet on top of my shoes (no socks). The bad start on the swim quickly turned into a bad bike start as I couldn’t get my shoes slipped on by the first hill and slipped off my bike. I tried unsuccessfully three more times to get going before stopping, putting my shoes on, and then clipping into my pedals. I wasted a solid minute trying to do something fancy that would have saved me a couple of seconds (KISS!). Once I got situated, I started to finally feel comfortable. It was a three lap course, so there were always people to pass, and pass I did.

The bike course weaved through the Walnut Creek Trail, passed my old high school, onto the local highway, and then back into the park. It wasn’t a very tough course, but the trail did get pretty narrow and congested as we went through the park

Bike: 38:43 (20.1 MPH)

T2: My dismount off the bike was much smoother than the mount. I slipped of my bike shoes coming to the transition area and executed the flying dismount without any mishaps. I racked my bike and began putting on my running shoes. Putting on my left shoe, I found my Garmin GPS watch that I had misplaced the previous evening (hence the lack of any pretty graphs). I think I need a better storage place for it next time!

T2: 1:09

Run: I haven’t done very many brick workouts, but I felt great starting the run. I had to consciously remind myself to slow down. I battled the feeling of throwing up the whole way. I would speed up and slow down as my stomach tossed and turned. I didn’t get passed on the run, but did manage to pass about 10 people.

The run felt solid. It was tough, but not unbearable. The run course for this race is an out and back along the Walnut Creek trail and is very flat and fast.

Run: 20:26 (6:49 min/mile)

I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:14:05, which turned out to be a lot faster than expected given the less than optimal start to the race. I accomplished my goal of completing a sprint triathlon in less than 1:20:00. Getting the first triathlon out of the way is a great feeling. The work I’ve put in up to this point was reflected in the result and I know my weaknesses that I can improve on.

Summary of Results