The Season to Tri

Though I had my first triathlon of the year in March, I believe May definitely woke me up for the tri season. After a brutal half marathon in the beginning of the month, somehow I managed to do better than expected at Uvas.

First the learning experience of the race:
1) Pick up race packet the day before, NOT on race day. If you do race day pick-up, a chain of events unfolds ( see items 2-5).
2) Get to event early to park because you may have to wait in a long line for race day packet pick-up.
3) Make sure you have enough time to "go" before the race. You may not have time if you wait in line for race day packet pick-up.
4) Keep twisty ties and safety pins in transition bag, because race-day goodie bags may be missing them.
5) Give yourself plenty of time to get transition area organized.


The race was chaotic in the beginning. I waited in a line forever to get my packet and bib. The corral was unusual because instead of "first come, first serve", each participant was assigned a space, but there wasn't an organized system for figuring out where your spot was. Trying to find my space in a sea of 900 triathletes was quite stressful.

Once we started the race, it was smooth sailing. The swim went well. The bike ride went well, except for a brutal hill towards the end. The run sucked--which is to be expected. My legs still aren't used to the transition from biking to running. All in all, I was satisfied with my time.


Let's do a fun comparison. Here are my race results for the march triathlon:

total time: 2:17:34    swim (.45 mile):  18:33   bike(14 miles):   1:10:36  run (3.1 miles):     40:17  

Here are the Uvas Tri results from a few weeks ago:
total time: 2:18:34 Swim(3/4 mile) : 25:46 bike (16 miles) : 57:30 Run(5 miles) 48:21

The Uvas race was a bit longer than the Cal Poly one, and I was only 1 minute slower.

I think I am ready for the San Jose International Triathlon this Sunday. It will be my first Olympic distance this year, and it will be interesting to compare to LA triathlon's results from last year.