My Forerunner GPS has some user malfunctioning. Garmin released the new software that allows for multi-sport auto capturing of all three sports and transitions. As far as I can tell, I started the watch at the beginning of the swim (7:43:31 AM). I probably turned off as I was putting it into my swim cap. I then got out of the water and restarted it, only to stop it, start it, stop it as I entered into the transition areas and changed sports. I should have practiced using the feature more. I was supposed to be hitting the “lap” button, not the “start/stop” button.
It was a beautiful day. The water was warm so both Tom and I didn’t wear our wetsuits. I definitely have much to improve in the transitions. It was sort of a comical event as I slipped trying to run to the bike rack (I realized I had passed it. Then I couldn’t find the bike because I hadn’t got down far enough). I had purchased and mounted a 2-water bottle holder that mounts to the seat post on Friday. It misplaced my bag that holds my tube, tire irons, and epi-pen. So I had put them into my bike jersey pocket. But when I put the shirt on, everything fell out. I threw everything into my pocket again and was off on the bike portion at 7:54:54. I got passed by plenty who seemed like they were so fresh that it was a bit un-nerving. My legs felt heavy after swimming. I ate a GU gel and continued on a nice pace that was fast enough to be passing people but not so fast that I couldn’t keep it up.
When I finished the bike portion, however, I pushed the start/stop button instead of lap, then again when I began the run. In the transition area I pulled out my tube, changed shoes and grabbed my hat & a snack bag of pretzels. I found out quickly that these items swoosh back and forth in a cycling jersey. That was not going to cut it. I put the tire irons in my tri shorts pocket, held the epi-pen & tossed the pretzels. I would have liked a GU gel but I couldn’t find the one I’d put into my pocket. I didn’t figure out that I was pressing the stop/start button, instead of the lap button, until partway into the run when I was trying to figure out why my speed was showing in mph instead of minutes/mile. I quickly pressed lap over and over until I was in the “RUN” portion on my multi-sport screen. My legs felt even heavier now. I felt like I was going at a snails pace but now that I had my Forerunner on the right screen I could see that I was not going slow at all. My pace ranged from 7:45-8:30/minute. This was just fine. For everyone who told me that there were hills, thank you for the warning.
Oh well, it was only my 1st triathlon and it was just for fun. I knew that I had enough information to recover some pretty accurate estimates each portion of my event. Based on my information, uploaded to Motion Based, assumptions of 3 minute & 2 minute transitions Tom and I were able to determine the following. Swim time (8 minutes); Bike (35 minutes); Run (25 minutes). Since I have my start and stop time so I know that my total time was 1:12:20. We had a ton of fun. We’re planning to do another one in August and then do a real triathlon. After that, I’ll need to get serious about my marathon training.