Pittsburgh Triathlon - International Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Got in near the middle of the pack and tried to navigate toward the front, but there were too many bodies already there. Spent a lot of energy trying to stay near the buoy treading until the start. Went out pretty hard expecting to get some separation from the pack which didn't really happen until the end of the upstream leg. Wetsuits probably helped some weaker swimmers keep up keeping it congested. Swimmers were generally stronger this year. Found I was able to maintain the aggressive pace I started at, so I just kept it up. Doing the Search for Monongy 1.2 mile swim a couple of weeks before was great for fine tuning my perceived exertion. Had some navigational difficulty on the return leg. There was a long gap between buoys on either side of the Ft. Duquesne Bridge. I swam toward the nearest one I could see which was a boundary for the first leg. Probably added 50-100 yards to my swim before I figured it out. Had some serious contact at the beginning and rounding the last buoy. Did a good job swimming upstream this year toward the exit so I didn't miss it, though I had to sight every other stroke to stay on target.

Sight better. Should have walked the entire course instead of just checking out the exit. However, buoys were only put out close to race time, so there wasn't much opportunity to do that and hit the port-a-potty!
Wear wetsuit for Olympic distance if it's legal?

Passed a couple of people on the uphill jog to transition. Don't they know it's a race?!
Transition area was muddy so had to run a little slow on the grass. Helmet and sunglasses on and bike unracked. Ran to the mount line and did a reasonable facsimile of a flying mount. Pedaled with feet on shoes, got some momentum, and slipped feet in. Never did get the left shoes fastened quite right. Never do something standing still you can do at 20 MPH! Or in my case 5 MPH.

Get a little more speed before putting feet in shoes. Overall good though. 8th fastest T1 out of 358.

Passed a fair number of cyclists on the uphill and was passed by some too. Had a blast flying downhill pushing the 11-tooth gear. Had difficulty on the false flats finding the right gear / cadence combo. Pushed hard the whole time. Passed a couple of people on tri bikes in the turnaround due to better handling.

Work on slight uphills like on Corrigan in South Park.

Dismount line snuck up on me. Only had time to get one foot out of a shoe before I had to stop. Got the other foot out rather quickly and ran to T2. Should have done that earlier.

Pick a landmark for removing feet from shoes and stick to it.

Legs felt dead and heavy from the first steps off the bike and never got all that much better. Felt like I was going very slowly (like 9:00 pace). Ended up being 8:04 pace, so not as bad as I thought, but a little disappointing given what I was able to do on Bricks in training (7:15-7:45).

Not volunteer the day before and stand for 8 hours. Maybe throw in a couple more longer Bricks leading up to taper.

Laid down on the ground in the small spot of shade and cooled down.


Running legs, aero equipment, mental lapses.


This was so much better than the Sprint last year. I was better prepared and felt competitive.