The Nation's Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I've been debating for awhile about how I was going to approach the swim. Last yr in the NYC tri (my last Olympic), I went pretty hard and had full leg cramps leaving the water. I decided to go easy and not push hard.. As it turns out I think I was overly conservative. During the first 400 i took my time no real traffic since I had a good swim position and went way off course, kayaker told me to swim the other way, felt great but was getting passed. During the next 400 I decided to push harder felt great, next 400 felt great and not winded so I started pushing harder.. I started to pass everyone that passed me. I started to pass some other color caps but at the 1200 mark (a very well marked course)I got hit right on the nose twice, my goggles were at the side of my face and my nose was bleeding and hurting like crazy.. I blanked out for sec.. had to turn on my back for a min to re-adjust myself and i thought my nose was broken.. I was fine, turned around and started to swim again. Swam another 200 yds and wham got kicked in the head again, swam more and got kicked again. I was surrounded by breast strokers. The course became so crowded with all the slower swimmers from the earlier waves, some were on their back just talking to each other. I couldn't figure out how to get around them so I decided to go through them.. I was pissed since 1) i got kicked in the head so many times and 2)they were taking prime real estate and talking and bs'ing like they're at a bar.. I literally just swam over them and swam harder to the finish. When I finished i didn't feel winded at all. Maybe because I spent so much time upright trying to figure out how to get around the crowds of people..

Figure out my proper race pace and practice more OWS.

the run to my bike was a little long. Notice my leg twinging a little so I walked.. I think i figured out why my legs cramp after a race swim.. It's running with the wetsuit on. My legs felt fine after I got the suit off. I was debating with myself stupid things in this transition like should I wear glasses, should I wear thick wet socks or thin wet socks, I took a gel and ran with the bike out.

Stick to my game plan and just race

I was super cautious on the bike. This is my first time riding in the rain and wet weather. the first 4 miles i think I averaged less than 15 mph because i was being so cautious and there were a lot of tight turns. Once we got on the main straightaway I decided to go harder but was very nervous about the crowds and the wet weather. I was so nervous on the bike that on mile 18 my hands started to cramp because I was holding the aerobars so tight. A lot of people had flats and many bottles on the course, some slippery and bumpy areas.. With the slow start I was pretty happy with the time. Legs felt great throughout, didn't push hard enough. Saw my old college friends near the end of the course. It was great seeing them and I was very happy to get off the bike.

Not be a wussy and bike/run when the weather is bad.

ran and racked the bike with no problems. thought about switching socks.. but decided that i was being stupid. I got everything on and just stood there for a min thinking this is fast I must be forgetting something.

I just need to race and not think about things so much.

I saw my friends cheering for me at the beginning and got a huge adrenaline rush. I ran maybe 1.5 miles and was wondering why I was breathing so hard. I looked down and noticed that I was running a 7min mile pace.. A little aggressive for my abilities. My legs still felt pretty good so I thought I'd slow down a little and see if I could maintain the pace for the rest of the race.. Mile 3.5 or so I hit a wall. my legs started to drag big time, cardio wise i felt ok but my legs started to scream at me and my pace slowed down a lot. I walked the last two water stops and even tried the gu blocks they were handing out wishing they would give my legs some energy. Made the mistake of eating them while running and choked on them (Now i know why we tell our kids not to run with our mouths full!). I had to stop for a sec to clear my throat. Ran to the finish line and saw my friends. Felt great after the race. Felt like I normally do after a long workout. I think this means I didn't push myself hard enough.. I got my finishers medal from an extremely polite 5 yr old.. very cute kid.

Run at a more even pace. The fast pace in the beginning hurt me at the end. Overall my time sort of averaged out.

Waited for my friend Scott to finish and hung out with friends. It was easy to cool down because it was so wet and cold.


I need to just race and not think/debate things so much. Also need to just relax and practice in all types of weather.


This race can't support so many people..

Nicely run race but 5000ish racers on this course is crazy. I never encountered a race that you encountered so much traffic at all parts of the race. The volunteers were great and did a great job supporting the participants.

Learned a ton and hopefully I won't over think the next race. Also no more races with 5000ish participants.. Can't imagine how chaotic it would have been if all 7000ish racers showed-up.