Memorial Hermann Houston Towne Lake Triathlon - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic

I had 1X Roctane just before the swim.

The swim is my weakest event. I was told there would be kayaks every 150 m, but I could barely see them. There were probably five or less going around. I thought I would not be able to do point-to-point swims of 150-200m each with 15-second rests like I practiced. But I knew the lake gets shallow about ten yards from land, so I decided to stay to the side. After the gun went off I was last of the pack, so I settled to the side and away from fish. During the first 150m my goggles would not hold seal and kept flooding. I stopped maybe ten times to adjust my goggles. I cleared the first turn buoy after about 300 m, but with no kayak in sight, I headed toward a boat dock for a 20 sec rest. I started swimming again--still no kayak--and after 800m I swam close to land to stand still and fix my goggles.

There was a kayak about two-thirds of the way through, and I hug on. The old big bellied dude on the kayak told me the water was only four feet deep. So I stood up and walked ten meters before swimming again. I thought the kayak should have been on deeper parts of the swim route. In the last 1/3 of the swim there were no kayaks again so I held on to the last buoy, swam 200 meters and finally found a kayak to hang on. The volunteer on the boat pointed out I was only 200 m away from finish. I kept going until a group of volunteers yelled at me to go back because I had missed the finish.

I swam an awful time of 3:02/100 yards. According to my Garmin, I swam 1.01 miles instead of 0.93 miles, so my actual pace was still a very bad 2:49/100 yards.



Lessons learned: I should have anticipated a potential problem with goggles and I should learn to thread to rest or swim backstroke.

This was a long transition, as we have to jog .4 miles to our bikes. I felt cold, drank Gatorade, and grabbed my bike.

should have drank balanced water and electrolytes.

I started off strong, passing those who passed me on the swim. I averaged 20 mph on a course with no hills. The wind was not bad. After 15 miles my tummy started feeling funny. I felt my legs were tiring and about to cramp. I had not done bricks prior to the race, and the last one was more than six weeks ago. I was paying the price, and started cramping at mile 18. I tried my best to shake off the cramps and tummy problems. Cramping felt worse than the tummy issues so I continued drinking Gatorade to overcome cramps. I tried my best to hold 20 mph. As soon as I reached dismount both of my legs cramped.
I had to rest it off a minute or two, until eventually I could walk my bike to transition to prepare for the run.




Lesson learned: I cannot rely on Gatorade for hydration, because of tummy problems. I need to switch to an electrolyte supplement.

I could barely walk and I was trying to shake off cramps. I drank more Gatorade despite tummy problems. I could not even lean forward without cramping to put on my socks. I really needed to rest for a while. At last I was able to shake off the cramps. The tummy issues remained, therefore I decided to use just water.


Need to practice more brickwork swim and bike.

I tried to run the best that I could, even with stomach problems. I drank water cup after water cup at aid stations. I figured I'll try to hammer the last
two miles to better the 11 min/mile. I tried to increase my pace after mile 4 but the tummy problems held me back. On my last mile, I tried to give everything, but my calves and glutes were cramping. I just closed my eyes, bore the pain and thinking this would all be over.


I need more brickwork for Bike and run .

I had fun. My family was waiting for me at the finish. I will do it again and I will be more prepared next time. I need to practice swimming more, so I won't have to rely on kayaks. I need to train on more bricks and change my hydration source. In the future, I would bring an electrolyte supplement in case I need to switch to water. I may have finished in the last third of my age group, but I thought that wasn't too bad for a first time triathlete.

My next olympic triathlon is in 3 weeks.



slow swimming,nutrition, fitness on brickwork,


Will do it again!!!! Onurmark Productions are the best!!!!