My first (sprint) triathlon

This October I participated in my first sprint triathlon. Sprint triathlon consists of:

• Swimming for 750 meters
• Cycling for 20 kilometers
• Running for 5 kilometers

I decided to do this early June, so I had around 4 months to prepare, or 3 if acknowledging that August was vacation time with friends.

It was a great experience that made me realize a few things, that after a few days of self-reflections and analysis I am now more aware of my strengths and weaknesses.

What did I learn?

This might sound cliché, but I learned that I should not skip leg days. For many times in the past, I have mentioned to my partner that my legs are my Achilles heel (no pun intended). And this turned out to be true for the race.

To put some numbers on it, after the swimming part, where I was a bit above the middle, 235th out of 409 participants. I considered this a success. I had a solid performance, and did not even feel tired after swimming.

But with biking started the downfall. After having a solid 5 min difference from a friend we participated together, Alex, I watched him pass by me, and even finishing the 20km biking 5 minutes ahead of me.

I ended the race 358th out of 409 participants.

Why my performance was low?

After checking my Whoop/Apple Fitness data, one thing became apparent. My performance was pure lack of muscle endurance. For example while biking I never reached above 165BPM, but still my legs could just not keep up.

Then for the running it was the same, I could keep my breath, but legs could not keep up with the pace.

Current performance

After a 10km race I run recently and the Sprint triathlon, my goal is to improve greatly my running and biking pace. Swimming not so much, as there is little to gain in a race.

My current running pace is around 6:55/km when I run 10km, and my biking pace was 23.69 km/h in a 20km race.

Goal performance

The following months I have a goal to focus on improving those numbers, and hopefully run my next sprint triathlon next spring/summer.

A stretch goal for me is:

• Run pace <5:45 /km
• Bike pace >28.50 km/h

Let’s see how far I can push myself.

Thanks

Thanks to Alex for pushing my limits further 🏋️‍♀️