Steelman Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Good swim overall. Didn't seem to be able to push quite as hard as I wanted to, but was in a good rhythm. Navigation and sighting was ok - did get slightly of course a couple times and then ended up mainly following one of the swimmers who was about my speed - I noticed he didn't go of course at all, and figured I could get a draft off him and save some energy.

Overall happy with the time. Would like to get faster, but my last swim was a bit slower than this on a shorter course, so I'll take the pace. Need to work on keeping my legs up - I let the wetsuit compensate too much and think my form suffers.

Need to work on getting the wetsuit off. Had the arms and top off easily on the run, but struggled to get out of my legs. Had to take a seat to get it off. Felt good on the run to T1 - not light headed or dizzy. Glasses were fogged when I put them on :-/

Practice getting out of wetsuit. Really happy with my mount with shoes attached to bike and getting in and strapped

Moderated on the hills - tried to get up them without increasing my effort a ton and red-lining too early. Felt at a comfortable race pace, but was getting passed a lot on first loop. After third turn around, tried to focus more and put forth more effort. Felt ok where I was at effort wise, but had trouble making myself go any harder. Definite head wind on back stretch of course that made one of the long false flat areas tougher than usual.

Hmmm, given how my run went, I can't be too unhappy with this bike. Just used to being a little faster MPH wise and concerned being that far behind time wise on the top 3-4 in my age group.

Good dismount and right into running with the bike. Not sure why, but feet hurt on run in and didn't on run out - felt like I was moving slower. Had some trouble getting in to running shoes.

Maybe try baby powder in shoes to see if I can get them to slip on easier. My Kinvaras have floppy uppers that tend to cave in when you jam your foot in, and no loop on the back to pull on easier.

Tried to focus on running easy w/ high cadence and not blowing up too early. Splits were very even. Not good at drinking on the run, so basically just sipped and dumped on my head - shoes got really wet doing this and bothered me some over the last couple of miles. Passed someone in my AG at about mile 2.5 and heard him stick right with me. He passed me back around mile 4 and I let him make a gap of 50-70 yards - decided to stick with racing my race and not his. Gap was the same with about 1.2 miles to go, so I started to close it. Felt like I needed a little energy so slowed and sipped some Gatorade at last water stop. Got to within 10-15 yards going into last turn, then turned on the jets. Saw him pick it up, but he didn't stay with me :-)

Hmm, nothing? A 10k PR by over a minute on a harder course than my previous PR. Could maybe go a little easier over first 1-2 miles, did have one "slow" mile of 7'11: at mile 5 - everything else was sub 7 - but think that may have been as much energy related as fitness related.

Cold towel, cold shower, light stretching. Lots of club members and friends in this race, so hung out with them. Took my dog down to the lake and let her swim around.


Fitness and form, I suppose. A couple bobbles in transition with wetsuit and running shoes. Just wasn't quite my day on the bike.


Race overall is fantastic - nice course, very well organized, lots of staff, good post-race spread, entertainment and awards ceremony. One area on the bike that could have used a sign or volunteer - on the portion in the park on way back to marina, there is one area where the road appears to go straight but actually turns left - straight takes you in to a parking lot. I had taken note of this driving in the day before, but saw a racer in front of me go into the lot and turn around. As awesome as the beer glass for a podium finish is, I would probably prefer a medal :-)