Why Every Triathlete Needs a Rust-Buster Race (And What I Learned From Mine)
There’s nothing quite like the first race of the season.
No matter how well you train, nothing fully prepares you for the adrenaline of race morning and the butterflies in your stomach as you stand on the start line. Whether you call it a “rust-buster,” a “season-opener,” or a “tune-up,” an early-season race is valuable for many reasons.
The last time Matt and I raced was at Ironman Arizona in November, so we decided to kick off our 2025 season with the Great Clermont Olympic Triathlon over the weekend. Not only did it perfectly coincide with Matt’s birthday (impromptu vacation!) it was an opportunity to test our fitness, fine-tune execution, and learn how to race again.
In today’s post, I’ll share my race experience and provide key takeaways I learned. Read on to discover why doing an early-season race is one of the smartest moves you can make, whether you’re aiming for the podium or simply want to dust off the cobwebs and gain some confidence before your big event.
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A couple of years ago, I wrote “Why You Need a Rust-Buster” for Triathlete Magazine. Essentially, a rust-buster is an early-season race that helps you shake off the cobwebs from off-season and learn how to do a triathlon again. Sure, you’ve been swimming, cycling, and running in training, but the only time we get to put it all together is on race day.
An early-season race allows you to practice skills like navigating a course, executing transitions, swimming in a wetsuit, and sighting for buoys. You get to try out new gear and techniques, practice your nutrition strategy, and remind your body what it’s like to race with intensity. It’s probably been a while since you had to manage race day logistics, deal with pre-race nervous energy, and summon the mental strength to push yourself to the finish line.
The first race back always feels a bit rusty, so it’s best to work out the kinks now, rather than waiting until your A-race rolls around.
The key is to be prepared, make a plan, and have reasonable expectations. The best time to do a rust-buster is when you transition from foundation training into specific training for an upcoming event. Because you’re probably not at peak fitness just yet, it’s important to focus on execution, rather than results.
This doesn’t mean you can’t race hard, and maybe snag a podium or PR, but that’s not the goal. The main purpose is to go through the motions and remind your body what it’s like to race with intensity. It’s also a great time to test out any new techniques, gear, or nutrition that you might be using this season.
A rust-buster isn’t a tune-up race. You’d likely do a tune-up race about 2-3 weeks before your A-race. The purpose of a tune-up is primarily to practice in your race day set up and fine-tune nutrition and pacing. You’re not there yet.
A rust-buster is exactly what it says. It’s for shaking off the rust and getting back in the game!
Steal Our Pre-Race Prep Strategy
Our Season-Opener: Great Clermont Olympic
We chose the Great Clermont Olympic as the first race of the season for a few reasons. First, the timing works well with our transition from foundation skill building into strength training prior to more important events later this year. We’ve prioritized building a strong foundation, so we haven’t done much speed work yet. Since we primarily do long-course triathlons, an Olympic was the perfect distance to test out endurance and resilience.
Also, Clermont is special because it’s where Matt and I had our first date!
If you haven’t raced the Sommer Sports events at Clermont I would highly recommend it. Their races are always excellent with great organization, friendly volunteers, and it’s a wonderful venue with a lake swim, hilly bike, and flat run. (They even managed to find more hills for the new bike course…)
This was a Sunday race, which is a bit unusual, so we drove 5 hours down on Saturday, but made sure to get there in plenty of time for athlete check-in, to eat dinner, prep gear, and relax. This was a combo event, with a Sprint and Olympic, so we had a late 8:30 am start time.
Swim - The 1,600-yard swim course is a single-loop triangle in Lake Minneola.
Bike - The new 40K bike course travels counter-clockwise around Lake Minneola with two out and backs. 1,053 ft of elevation gain in 24.6 miles with mostly short, steep hills, including the one on Jalarmy (everyone’s favorite).
Run - The 10K run course is an out and back two-lap course on the South Lake Trail by the water.
Back in the Game: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Back to Training After Time Off
We’d already done a practice open water swim the week before the race with water temperature in the mid-60s, so we were prepared on race morning. We used our swim bands, did a few activation exercises, and a 15-minute warm-up swim before the race start.
I loved this swim! I’ve been working on some new things with my swimming, and I can definitely tell it’s paying off. I felt long, strong, and powerful, which helped me swim up into the back of the two men’s groups ahead of the ladies, so I had to do a bit of navigating. I’m pretty good with sighting, every 5-7 strokes, so I was pleased with the perfect triangle I drew on my Garmin map.
A main focus for this race was to test out new things. This doesn’t mean I haven’t used them in training; I just hadn’t used them at a race yet.
Never break the cardinal rule of triathlon: Nothing new on race day. (I have an article for Ironman coming soon on this topic).
The first new thing was wearing compression sleeves under my wetsuit. I’ve been training in compression socks, but those are a bit harder to put on in transition, so calf sleeves it is. I’ll tell you why I’ve been wearing them in the hopes that it might help someone else out there who’s having a similar problem.
We recently did some digging into why I tend to get a bit off balance during T2 after long bike rides. My nutrition is on point, and we even checked my inner ear function, but we couldn’t find anything. Eventually, we determined my blood pressure gets low on longer rides, where blood pools in the legs and isn’t returned back to the heart and upper body. By wearing compression sleeves, I can ensure my circulation keeps going back where I need it so I don’t pass out. Et voila! No weird feeling in T2 anymore.
After a fairly average transition (not slow, but nothing amazing) I headed out on a 24.6-mile bike ride. I was trying 3 new things on the bike. The first was a more aggressive pacing strategy than I’ve done in the past, the second was new nutrition, and the third was a new way of taking in nutrition. I’ve eliminated drinking out of an aero bottle with a straw in favor of a traditional bottle to eliminate air ingestion that can lead to stomach upset. I’m also using Tailwind for my nutrition, which I’m really enjoying during training.
One thing to remember is to really push those bottles down in the rear cages, because I did lose one in a particularly bumpy spot. It was on the last mile of the bike course, so it didn’t matter much, but it would during a long distance triathlon. Something to keep in mind for the future.
The bike ride was my favorite part of the race! It was a hilly bugger, but I’m very proud of how I stayed focused, managed my effort on the terrain, and stayed strong for the whole ride. It was the highest power I’ve ever held for a short-course triathlon, so that was pretty exciting! I felt strong and in control and rode by myself for almost the whole ride, which is my preference. There were two out and backs on course, so I got to see Matt twice, which is always a highlight of my race.
After a quick T2, it was time for my least favorite discipline… although I’m learning to love it. We’ve made a lot of changes with my running over the past few months, and I can definitely see a difference.
The goal was to be curious, race without expectations, and get used to racing with intensity again, so that’s what I did. I even threw in a few short walk breaks, which is something I never would’ve done at this distance in the past. But it helped me run better, keep even pacing, and finish strong.
A few funny things happened during the run. First, there are so many triathlons in Clermont, people don’t bat an eye when you’re racing on the South Lake Trail. This means navigating around cyclists, dogs, and toddlers having temper tantrums in the middle of the sidewalk.
There was one turn with an especially confusing race sign, so I actually started running on a different road. It ran parallel to the course, so it didn’t matter much, but I happened to see Matt at the same time, and yelled, “Where the heck is the run course?!” I was able to return the favor when one of the faster sprint athletes tried to turn around at the same spot, instead of heading to the finish line.
The only real downside to racing in the south after training in the north is we’re not exactly heat acclimated yet… It was a beautiful day, but did get up in the 80s during the run. We’ve been running in the 50s and 60s, so we’re definitely not prepared for that yet.
The volunteers were so amazing and handed out small bags of ice at aid stations. Matt decided to sacrifice his bag of ice for me, and since he’s pretty fast, that looked like launching ice chips at my chest while running opposite directions at full speed. I couldn’t help but crack up laughing, and the aid station ladies thought it was hilarious.
Overall, it was a great day and the most fun I’ve had at a triathlon in a long time. No expectations, just racing by feel and re-learning the process. Even though we’re not at peak fitness yet, the value of doing an early-season race paid off for both of us. Matt had the best swim he’s had in a while, a strong bike, and one of his faster runs, especially after being sick the week prior to the race. I had my fastest open water swim, highest bike power, and a strong run. He placed 4th in his age group, and I was 4th overall female and 1st masters female. We seem to get the same placings a lot!
So if you’ve got big plans for the 2025 season, I would highly recommend doing an early-season rust-buster, even if you’re not at peak fitness yet. Then, you can do a tune-up race a few weeks out from your main event. Both of these opportunities provide different benefits, but they work together towards the ultimate goal of helping you execute a successful race when it counts.
Here are some Do’s and Don’ts for an early-season race:
Do prepare, consistently train, and have a specific plan to set yourself up for success.
Don’t set expectations. The goal is to practice racing, not judge your efforts.
Do practice any new techniques, gear, nutrition, and pacing.
Don’t stress about your fitness level. Just get back to racing.
Do race with intensity. Don’t hold back.
Don’t get caught up in results or metrics.
Do have fun!
One final thought. After every race, no matter how big or small, I write a race report. It’s something I send to my coach, but it’s primarily for me. I include everything, from what I ate on race morning to how well I slept and pre-race preparation. Then, I dive deeper into the race itself. I talk about how well I executed my nutrition plan, pacing strategy, how I felt, and what I thought. Not only does it serve as a record I can refer to later, it helps highlight what worked well and what I can change to improve upon for the future.
The reason I race isn’t for awards or accolades, but for the continuous pursuit of self-improvement.