Packet pickup was a breeze and Spokesman Bicycles even offered a free safety inspection of my bike. I had just installed some new wheels on my Specialized Ruby and so I was relieved that someone was there to tighten it and make sure she was alright.
There were plenty of first timers at the sprint distance. I was told it was a rather casual triathlon so I'm not sure if the procedures were quite as official as bigger named races. But everyone was very nice and willing to explain things to first timers.
SWIM
My suspicions about my abysmal swim fitness were correct. I am in the bottom percentiles of swimming speed... after all, I was afraid of the water for most of my adult life. I took a swimming class in 2010 and avoided it as much as possible thereafter. There were 112 finishing times on the results page.... and I clocked the 95th slowest swim, 20th fastest bike, and 18th fastest run of all women.
My form is inefficient. And I desperately need a swim coach. I had done a few pool workouts before the race and two practices in the open water in the SF bay. I never swam the 700yd distance in the ocean but was able to do it once in the pool. I knew I had the endurance for it but I always found the workouts unpleasant and cumbersome.
Overall, however, the swim portion was fun! Although I took a dip and warmup in the waves beforehand, it felt like I was dipping my face in ice water for about 5 minutes but I quickly got used to it.
I ran through the timing chute at 22:01 minutes.
After the swim, there was a quarter mile run/jog to transition where triathletes chose their racks. It was easy to remember where my bike was because it was a small parking lot but it still would have been helpful to have some kind of easy marker. I happened to choose a transition area close to the bike out/bike in, which I found advantageous because I didn't have to run very long with my cleats.
BIKE
The bike ride was a brisk one and very beautiful--my favorite part of the triathlon. I kept wondering if I should have been pushing myself harder but held myself back knowing that there was a 5K afterwards. On Strava, I achieved a good 19.2mph bike ride (not including mount and dismount areas) along a relatively flat route on West Cliff Drive. The most difficult incline was about 1% grade, which felt like nothing compared to our regular 5-7% grades in San Francisco.
Next time, I would try to do more brick workouts with all-out bike efforts (to test my limits). I could easily have exceeded 20mph average. Official split with the mount and dismount was 37:38 on a 12 mile course.
RUN
Finally, the transition from bike to run was relatively easy but I was unsure of myself and dilly dallied for a bit. I paced at 8:13/mile (25:32) which is much slower than my 23:36 (7:35 pace) at the Giant Race two weeks prior. Not too bad off the bike though! Glad I added a handful of brick workouts before the race. Again, I held myself back to make sure I finished but next time, I'd like to leave it all out on the course.
CONCLUSION
Would I do it again?
Yes! Once I become a more efficient swimmer.... For now, it'll be nonprofit races only, just like this one. Maybe Olympic distance at the Santa Cruz Triathlon next year?
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