Big Rock Olympic Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Start was ok. should have gone out a little harder and gotten on someone's feet for a nice pull. Sighting and navigation was the best I've done in OWS to date. Much straighter this time, still pulled to the right on a few occasions. Form was pretty good (for me, as I need work on this anyway!) tried to maintain a good reach, good body roll with a full pull. ( I had just read a comment on the pull, which I tried, to visualize "drawing a question mark on the bottom with your hand during the pull" seemed to work well. I found myself having to refocus on form a few times.

On 2nd lap each of my calves started to cramp, about 2 minutes apart. I stopped any kick and tried to relax that leg while maintaining my arm stroke. Seemed to work.

Overall I hit my ideal time goal for this swim!

Get swimming instructions to improve my technique, and thus, time! I was 2 minutes and 8 seconds behind my AG winner....yet my swim was 7:45 slower than his swim! (I don't expect to be a top 5% swimmer, but getting to top 15% to 20% will make a big difference for me.)

We had a 1/4 to 1/3 mile run from the beach exit of the swim to the transition area...straight up the sand and a grass area. I jogged the whole way at an easy pace, perhaps could/should have gone a bit faster. removed arms from suit during this job as well as cap and goggles. My location was perfect, right next to the bike in/out to minimize running with the bike. Wetsuit came off easy enough. I had decided to not clip my shoes in ahead of time due to my proximity to the entry/exit (about 15 feet away) I think I could have removed at least 30 seconds from T1 by running a bit faster and not worrying about my wetsuit being folded and placed under my transition bag.

Compared to the field, my T1 time was 2 of 17 in AG and 29 of 139 overall.

Run harder from swim to transition...running is my strength, use it!

Felt pretty good on the bike. Was my first race with my new Cervelo P3 and I was excited about it! Stayed in aero for all but the toughest climbs, so about 90%+ in aero position. Did plenty of passing and was not passed at all. I tried to say "Thanks" to all of the police who were at each intersection...we DO appreciate them working to keep us safe! Traffic on the open streets was modest. I did have to hit the brakes hard at just one intersection as the officer must not have seen me coming and cars were allowed to move across the road as I was entering the intersection! He saw me and immediately blew his whistle and started waving his arms at the cars. The cars screetched to a halt as I was slamming on my brakes...a bit scary! (big momentum killer for me there. I was at 24 mph or so, dropped to a near stop and had to get going again.)

Overall the bike course was fine, just some rough sections in the park. I had my tubulars at about 110, so that helped smooth things out.

I felt good on the bike...realized I could have pushed a bit harder on the flats...but I kept a good spin going, 90 - 100 for the most part.

Compared to the field I was 1/17 for my AG and 10/139 overall, so I feel good about this segment!

push a bit harder on the flats. Need to do more big gear, slower cadence workouts to continue to build bike strength.

Entering the dismount area I removed my feet from my shoes and swung my right leg up and over and to the inside of my left. I didn't brake enough prior to my running dismount as I ended up with something more like a sprinting dismount! I was very happy with my dismount. While racking my bike the crank caught on the leg of the pole, but this only cost me a few seconds to correct.

My hands were numb from the cold on the bike...thus my fingers were not responding well as I tried for 15 seconds to unclip my helmet!

Not much....can't do much about numb hands....I would have needed more than 15 seconds in T1 to put gloves on, so I'm good with T2.

This is my strength, but I really tried to pace myself well. Was successful in this with splits of 6:27, 6:26, 6:30, 6:17, 6:24, 6:18....so my 2nd half split was faster...nice! Only took a few sips of water at aid station #1, about 1.2 miles in.

Similar to the bike, I did lots of passing and was not passed by anyone here. It was cool to see the top guys coming back after they had made the turn. The overall winner was flying! I gave him a loud, "Great job, keep it up!" He ended up with a 34:59 10k, so a solid 5:38 pace!

In hindsight, I could have pushed harder here. After I'd chased down the last 2 guys in front of me at about mile 5, the next one was out of sight and I didn't have anyone close to me so the competitive "juices" were not as strong without the physical presence of competition.

Within 5 minutes of finishing I felt fully recovered....also telling me I could/should have pushed harder.

Overall, I'm very happy with the run.

Push harder from mile 2 onward.

Walked around the finish area, few cups of water and gatorade. Banana or two. Nothing too much. I should have stretched out more. As I'm writing this, 2 days post race, my left calf is a bit tight...


Mental concerns of hitting the wall....no one pushing me on the bike or run.


Good local event. They had a Sprint Tri (113 participants) and an Off-Road tri (159 participants) at the same time, so total participation was around 411 people. Lake swim was great although visibility in the water was very poor. They had a nice little BBQ post race, with hamburgers and hot dogs along with chips. Was pretty well organized. I'll likely do this one again in the fall...see how my times compare!