First Triathlon Report - Sobe Mossman in Norwalk, CT

This past Sunday, July 8, 2007, I completed my very first triathlon. It was a sprint distance triathlon which for this race was a .5 mile swim in the Long Island Sound, a 12.5 mile bike ride and a 5k (3.1 mile) run. It was a beautiful day for a race with clear skies, a perfect day to be swimming, biking and running before most people have even woken up and considered where they would have their Sunday morning brunch. The scene to the left is the transition area at about 9:00 am after the race.

Overall I had a blast and was pleasantly surprised at how much fun I was having. Since I was considering this more of a shakedown and work out some of the bugs, I was very happy with my time and definitely came out with a list of things to keep in mind for the next one which will be the NYC triathlon on July 22, 2007. One of my Team in Training teammates, Nancy came with me and this was her first triathlon as well. As you can see we are both happy to have survived our first event no worse for the wear. So let's look at the full race report.

It started off very early in the morning. About 3:00am in the morning, As I was packing up my car and getting ready to pick up Nancy, the only other people on the street were leaving some of the area bars and getting ready to head home for the evening. For extra fun I should mention that due to a number of factors, I had slept no more than a total of six hours since Friday. Not the recommended rest for a race, but what can you do. The race location was at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk, CT. Only about an hour from New York, so it was an easy ride, especially if you just follow all the other cars with bike racks on the road.

Map of Calf Pasture Beach

Arriving at registration in the morning, the big question was, so what do we do now. A good strategy seemed to be to look for the lineup of people with bikes and gear and join them. From there we picked up our race numbers, got our timing chip, race t-shirt, bag filled with complimentary swag from the sponsors (a very good selection, although I don't have use for a scrunchy), and body marking. From there we separated to set up our transition area. My strategy again was to follow what other people who seemed to know what they were doing. At that point its getting close to 6:30 am and they are directing everyone to the beach for the race start.


This was the location of the swim start down at the far end of the beach. Halfway down the beach they announced that the first wave with the orange caps would be starting in less than a minute. So my run got started a little early. But I got to the start before they blew the whistle and even got to ask what the swim course was before I got going. Its important to find that stuff out. For the swim course we would be swimming out to the first big yellow buoy, swimming parallel to the shore for four buoys and then swimming back to shore. I was pretty happy with the swim and for the most part stayed on course. There was one time between the third and fourth buoy when I though that I was on course and when I look up saw nothing up open water in front of me. Using the third open water sighting technique that our coaches have taught us (the where the f... am I technique), I saw a line of swimmers and a buoy off to my right in a completely different direction from where I was swimming. So I go back on course. At that point I was now being passed over by the speedy swimmers in the second wave start. An errant elbow knocked by goggles of a little, but I was able to readjust before too much water entered in. In the end my swim time was 25:14. Not necessarily speedy, but then I didn't think it would be. Running up the beach towards the the first transition otherwise known as T1. This is where we strip out of the wetsuit and get ready to bike.

Now, the big problem for this transition is gravity, or staying vertical in the face of gravity. I was feeling a little shaky as I was getting out of the wetsuit and opted to sit on the grass to get my socks and bike shoes on. Finally helmet is strapped, bike is off the rack and I am racing (strolling) out of the transition area to start the bike portion. Time for T1 - 5:06, lots of room for improvement there. The bike portion was a loop course out on the surrounding roads with the distance comprising two loops of the course. I felt pretty good during the bike portion and was able to maintain a pedal cadence of around 95 which is what the coaches have recommended for us. After two loops on the course, I headed back into the transition area for T2. The time for the bike course was 47:16. Heading into T2 and switching from biking to running, a little faster than T1, the time was 2:46. Room for improvement as well and then off to the run.

I felt pretty good coming of the bike and beginning the run, although a little tired by now. The run course was a loop that took us out into the marina and surrounding area and then back.
The time for the run was 29:09 which averaged out to a 9:24 mile split. I was surprised at that since I felt I was going much slower and that is typical for my time when I run a 10k without swimming and biking. Total for the entire event, 1:49:31.

Complete Breakdown:
Age Group: M 35-39
.5 Mile Swim (min/100yds): 25:14 (3:03.5)
T1 5:06
12.5 Mile Bike (MPH) 47:16 (15.9)
T2 2:46
5K Run (min/mile) 29:09(9:24.2)
Total 1:49:31

Overall Male Winner Time: 1:04:00

Now the lessons learned:

• I should probably get more then 3 hours of sleep.
• Faster transitions, especially going from the swim to the bike
• Reset the bike computer before the race starts so I have a better idea of distance and pacing during the bike ride.
• Figure out how to rehydrate during the bike ride. Not as much of an issue for the sprint distance, but will come into play during the longer distances, including the NYC triathlon in less than two weeks.