Triathlon Improvement!

Yesterday they finally posted the splits from Sunday's sprint triathlon. Overall I am very pleased with my times! To show how much I've improved, I am going to compare them to my first sprint triathlon that I did in October. (I can't compare it to my second triathlon, which was a double mini-sprint and therefore not similar distances).

The Mission Bay Triathlon, from the beginning of October, was a 500 meter swim, a 15k bike ride, and a 5k run. Sunday's Super Seal Sprint Triathlon was a 500 meter swim, a 20k bike ride, and a 6k run. So, while comparable, my latest tri was about 3.75 miles MORE than my last one. And I finished this one in about 1:57......roughly 6 minutes slower than the previous one. I think that's great---that means it took me overall only 6 minutes more to complete an additional 3.75 miles. Progress, progress, progress!

So, let's take a look:

Swim: My swim time was about 13 minutes...a full minute FASTER than my previous time! I thought I was way slower...especially given my panic attack in the water, not being able to breathe for a little while, and taking several breaks in the water just to tread water and calm myself down. In fact, in my age/gender group, I came in 3rd place for the swim! Not too shabby!

Transition 1 (T1): This was about 6 minutes, which was average for my group. Some people were a few minutes faster. I don't know how they did that! By the time I ran up from the water (about 1/8 mile trek), got my wetsuit off, rinsed and dried my feet, and got my shoes and shirt on, so many minutes had already gone by. The only way I can really see to shave this time would be not to rinse and dry my feet....but really, that isn't a good option for me, as the bottoms of my feet always have sand and pebbles on them from being on the beach. Who wants to put on shoes and RUN with sand and pebbles under your socks? Not me!

Bike: The 20k took me about 55 minutes. This is five minutes slower than my first triathlon, but with an added 5k! I know this is still slow, and I was one of the slowest bikers (but not the slowest) in my group, but for me this was lightning fast! I think having a new light road bike is helping me; my old heavy, clunky hybrid slowed me down somewhat. Plus, I've been working on my biking, and while I have a LONG way to go, especially on hills, my improvement is right there in the numbers!

Transition 2 (T2): This was about 2 minutes....average for my group.

Run: My run was about 40 minutes, which included a bathroom break (I also took a bathroom break during the previous triathlon, so that's good for comparison's sake). As usual, my run was one of the slowest in my group. But my previous 5k took me about 38 minutes, and this one only took me 2 minutes more with an extra 1k to run. Sounds roughly the same to me. As always, I'm a slow runner....and gosh, it's so hard for me to find my running legs after biking!

All in all, I am very pleased with myself. The proof is in my times: I am improving! All of my hard training is paying off. And since my last triathlons, I have added a consistent strength training schedule (with weights) into my routine, which I think is also helping me. Best of all, regardless of my splits, I truly loved the experience this time, finished strong and smiling, and can't wait for my next one!