White Lake Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

my first rough open water swim (third OWS ever). I actually felt pretty confident in this after the first 100m or so. Once I realized I was not going to be able to see the bottom very well, or navigate amongst the kicks, I managed okay. Got kicked one good time in the stomach, and got clobbered by the third wave coming up on us.

Go harder at the start, don't hang back too much. I let the pack get away a bit, and lost the draft.

socks continue to be my demise. If I could get comfortable in the running shoes, I'd eliminate the socks. Don't need 'em for the bike, but need 'em for the run.

get rid of the socks. focus focus focus on MY race. stop looking at who else is coming into the rack, or what they're doing. get in and get out!

couldn't get into big ring at start (had cleaned and lubed chain day before due to rain, and took a bit to get that right again)
My strongest bike performance to date in a race. Very pleased with it, but will continue to work on staying in a tough gear, and on keeping clear of draft zones in traffic. Had to hammer it a few times to get clear of junk traffic. Amazingly, no issues getting clipped in, after all my fretting about pedals...
Hammer Heed 2 scoops in one bottle, drank about 1/2 the bottle (not enough)

ensure gear changes will work. Work on form and drinking more. Perhaps lower bars will help get more aero.

pretty good here. Had excellent rack location (bib 105), so was able to dart in, find the rack (nailed it perfectly because someone had put a yellow swim cap on the end of our rack and I picked it right up). Little wobbly on the legs, had helmet off quickly, took a few seconds to get SIDIs off, Mizunos on, grabbed visor, racebelt, and flask, and took off. Put on visor and racebelt exiting transition, and tried to kick a bit to get the legs moving. I had been spinning the last 1/2 mile to warm up the legs.

no visor on cloudy days. need quicker method of shoe changes (speedlaces help, but I'm still slow)

a race PR, but the middle mile felt slow. I had more in me there. I think when I saw Scanlon coming before the turnaround, I was caught. I didn't realize that I would only miss him by 11 seconds in the end...I kicked it again with about 1000 ft to go and made up some time on him, but not enough. 7:00 flat would have done the trick versus the 7:16. Heck, 7:10s would've done it!
Vanilla hammer gel in the run flask with 6 oz. water. One water dump on the head at the 2.25 mile point.

interval work. push harder mile 1 and 2

stretches for IT band, calves, two oreos, two sugar wafers, a grape powerade, a coke for the road, and a chicken filet biscuit at Bojangles in Dunn for my treat!!


swim and WINDY!!!!