Race Review-Active Feet Triathlon 2 200m/8km/2km

As I mentioned, I am just starting to get into triathlons, and on the weekend I had my 2nd mini triathlon as part of the Gatorade/Active Feet Triathlon Series. Here is a little review of how the race went...

A 5:15am wake up call is never nice, but knowing I am only one and a half hours from doom (open water swimming) makes it even harder. I arrived at the St Kilda race venue with about 45 minutes to spare, but this quickly disappeared after racking my bike, getting my race number written on me and setting up my transition area. The race was due to start at 6:45am, but was delayed by about 15 minutes due to some marshaling problems. Before I knew it I was lining up at the water's edge ready for the siren.

The Swim-Let me preface this with a simple statement- I hate open water swimming. Everyone says you will get used to it, but I just can't help thinking there is probably an octopus waiting in the water to attack me (more likely seaweed, but it's still risky business). I held a steady pace at the middle/back of the pack, not wanting to get caught up in the kicking and punching craziness that is open water swimming. I exited the water feeling good and made my way to transition.

The Bike- The bike is usually my slowest leg, but after some training over the Christmas holidays I managed to slightly improve my bike leg (yay me!) and was able to overtake a few people over the course. I rode at a hard yet comfortable pace, and then I was back to transition.

The Run-Disaster! I have been fighting a long and annoying battle with shin splints for the best part of 2 years now. Having seen the physio only 2 days before the race I was confident my shins could handle the short 2km run. Boy was I wrong! I was in pain from the first step out of transition and it only got worse from there. Let's just say I was glad when it was over!

Overall- My best swim and bike performance combined with my worst run performance to make a very average triathlon. I am hoping some new Zensah compression sleeves will make the next triathlon run leg a whole lot more bearable.

The event was well organised, and Active Feet and Supersprint run an excellent triathlon! If anyone is interested in getting into triathlons and don't know where to start, I would definitely recommend the Active Feet Series.

Any tips for a beginner triathlete?

Ash :)