Race Report: Gold Coast Sprintman

Today was my first (and hopefully only) "low-impact-athon". And, you know what? It was great. The race was a bit shorter than an Olympic (1000m swim vs 1500m, 33K bike vs 40K, 7K run vs 10 - though it was even shorter for me since I didn't do the run). A few lessons:

1. Wearing a wetsuit is advantageous for a deep water start. It (a) keeps you warm and (b) keeps you afloat without much effort.

2. Getting out of said wetsuit is actually easier when it's wet than when it dry. This is not to say that it's easy.

3. If you can't run, don't try to walk the run. I didn't do this, but the two other girls on my squad who did ended up jogging. I know I would have been tempted and I don't want to do anything that will jeopardize Noosa.

4. If you tell some one in their first race that they shouldn't bother with the weight of a spare tire since it's really unlikely that they'll get one, then they will definitely get a flat tire 500 meters into the race. My sincerest apologies to Julie. I've never gotten a flat in a race ever, and now she'll never get another, I'm sure.

5. Racing against a larger field is better than just racing within the squad. The girls on the squad are fast. One came in 2nd in her age group, 2 others placed 4th and 5th in theirs. It was nice to be in a big enough field to have people at my level and to be able to cheer on my team as we went.

6. Some one misspelled triathlon on our tent. Go Brisbane Triathalon Squad!