TBF Tri For Real #2 - TriathlonOlympic

I felt like I had a good swim. Sighting, breathing, and staying on course seemed good, but it was definitely not reflected in my time. I was pretty disappointed when I looked at my watch coming out of the water.

I didn't have any drafting options present themselves. I had a lot of open water to swim in for the majority of the course.

I gave 9 minutes to the leader on the swim! I just can't keep doing this if I'm going to be competitive.

Learn how to swim!

Time included in swim split, but easily under a minute.

No socks. I had a little trouble with the back of my shoes sticking and folding down on my heels. No other issues.

Nothing.

I basically threw caution to the wind and went out hard on the bike. I really wanted to go under an hour on the bike split. After my swim split and this being my strongest discipline, I wanted to make up as much time as possible here.

Event though I fail off of my goal, no other riders passed me on the course and I passed quite a few riders from earlier waves.

Unfortunately, the main issue was out of my control - traffic. In a couple spots, I had cars pass me then slow in front of me as they waited to pass other riders. At one point, I had a car start to push me off the road toward the shoulder.

While not a huge disturbance, the traffic broke my cadence and pacing effort.

T2 time in bike split.

In an effort to still recover from the swim, I donned my shoes without socks. This was my first attempt at running without socks. Hmm... so much for the tenant of not trying anything new on race day. I was surprised at how comfortable my feet felt at the beginning of the run. However, at about mid run, I developed a hot spot on my left foot. By the end of the run, I had an approximate quarter size blister.

I need to do a little more training running without socks. I definitely like the feel and think I will head in this direction.

Very happy with my run. I wanted to go sub 7 minute miles and I just made it at 6:59.

Coming out of transition, I was a little worried about the run after my effort on the bike. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how well my legs recovered from the bike.

I feel like I was able to keep my effort just below my VT and LT for the majority of the run based on my breathing. Stride and mechanics felt good too. While tired by the finish, I felt I could of pushed on longer at this pace which spells good news for my upcoming HIM in October.

Nothing. I'm quite happy with my run split. In fact, this was the highlight of my day.

Just a little walking cool down. I didn't feel overly exerted at the finish.


The swim!


Goal was to go sub 2:15 for this race. Unfortunately, after the swim, I knew this was going to be a difficult task! I gave my best effort on the bike and run to recover, but it just wasn't in the cards for the day.

Somehow I made a podium finish with this performance! However, the field was roughly 100 people lighter than last year. And, despite the swim, my time was just over a minute faster than last year.