A Race of Mistakes

The hardest race that I have ever done was my first Olympic distance triathlon, which consists of a 1.5 K swim, 40 K bike, and 10 K run (0.9 miles, 24.8 miles and 6.2 miles). I thought this would be a good time to point out huge mistakes in racing and how to avoid them.

I figured after I had completed a few sprint distance races that it was just time to try the next distance. I signed up for one of TBF’s Tri For Real events when I was eighteen (nineteen race day age). This brings me to my first piece of advice: Respect the course. I didn’t train enough- especially on the bike. I underestimated the bike ride. I bought my first road bike a few months before the race, but honestly didn’t ride much. When I trained, I primarily focused on running. During the race, I was so exhausted from the bike ride that there was not much running going on during the race.

After I rolled into transition, I had no energy, but still had a 6.2 mile run. I took an energy gel at the first aid station. And that leads to my next two issues. During a race of this distance, you should be prepared to take calories in. This was something that I was completely unaware of at the time. I will cover race-day nutrition in a couple weeks. And never, ever, ever, ever try something for the first time during a race. I did not digest that very well.

Now for the positive of the race: I finished it. Honestly crossing that finish line was a huge step for my triathlon journey. I was not going to stop no matter how difficult it was. I walked most of the run portion. I was out there literally yelling at my legs to keep moving. I was in pain. My finish time was 3:18:24. I was incredibly proud of the fact that I had finished this race. Even better, I got first place in my age group! (I was the only one in the 19 and under, but that’s not important…) I have worked hard over the past several years to improve, learned from my mistakes, and got a coach. It has definitely paid off. My current PR of 2:24:09 at Olympic distance was on the same course .

So for my last pieces of advice: 1) You have to start somewhere! 2) Get to the finish line. 3) Learn from and share your mistakes.