Colonial Beach Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I don't think the course was 1100 yds. I think it was somewhere between 900 and 1000. One of the local pros said it was more like 800, so my off-course swimming could account for the 100 yds or so. This would be a decently good time for me if it was 900-1100 yds. I stuck to the outside to avoid the washing machine and had a pretty good pace in the begininning. I managed to stay in freestyle; had to pull up a couple of times when there was someone in front of me or when I got pointed in the wrong direction. Typical log jams at the buoys where I went to a side/breast stroke. I had to start breathing every two strokes every so often towards midway and through to the finish as I was getting a little winded. Last 100-200 yds; I just thought about where my bike was and went through my T routine. I glanced at my watch and saw that I was ahead of my target pace, which made me relax a little more. I was able to catch a draft every now and then also, but couldn't find anyone with a consistent pace.

Site a little better; get more air in my lungs; rotate during breathing more (it's not a frickn pool, stupid!). Be more aggressive and find someone to draft off of.

T1 - eh. They had a nice little kiddie pool to rinse the feet off, which was nice since the "beach" was kind of crappy.

Maybe learn that fancy shoes on bike trick, but I hate running barefoot.

I started out at a nice steady 20 mph pace; my age group was frickn FAST. I saw a big clump of riders ahead, but I restrained myself from trying to catch them as I wanted to get on it the second half of the course. After the swim, I figured that my age group was a pretty elite crowd, so I didn't want to bother with them too much anyway. Once I got into a groove, my HR was pretty steady around 170 I think so I probably could have gone faster. I drank every 10 minutes (carried two bottles of HEED mix) and a shot of goop at 13 miles, and again at 23 miles. My hill climbs are pretty shitty. I definitely need to train more outside of base; it's flat as a pancake here. I was able to keep a good cadence and speed on the flats though. Played leap frog with a couple of guys; I would get passed on the hills, but I would go by them on the flats and downhills. I made a couple of passes at a couple of the turns; either people were unsure of the turn radius, or I was getting careless (or needed the adrenaline boost). There were a few groups of riders from the next wave that passed me, and they were TOO close to each other, so I yelled at them :) The big clump of riders were only 0.5 mile in front of me at the turn around, but I think they hammered it on the second half too as I never really passed any of them. I think I averaged 19.5 on the way out so my second half was definitely faster. I was maintaining 20-24 mph on the flats on the way back. Cadence and good; kept it around 96 the whole time. I downshifted and stood up on a few climbs mainly to give my ass a rest. There were a few typical VA drivers on the road that act like they have never seen a bicycle before and act like we are big nuiscance causing them to be 5 minutes late to wherever they need to go. The dismount was fun. I was busy un-ratcheting and un-velcroing my bike shoes and came up on the line fast. I accidentally did a running dismount. Sweet!

Go faster on the hills! Get some tri-specific cycling shoes and use these ones for longer rides. Get a more comfortable saddle.

Had to put the bike in a different rack as it was a cluster-f. Found my shoes . . . yaddi yaddi yadda. Forgot my hat.

Nothing much really. It was a bit of a run (30 sec) to get to the rack on the far side of the transition area.

Almost spot on with my desired pace. I am not a runner, so 9-min miles is okay with me for now. The first 2 miles went by fast; 5k's are gonna seem like cake after this. The first two were sub-9, but miles 4 through 5.5 were a little slower; was getting a little hot at that point I think. I really pushed the last 0.5 mile since a spectator said a dude was coming up on me. I think he was lying. I passed two guys at 1/4 mile to go and sprinted very strong the last 200 yds. I did carry my running bottle with HEED mix, so I could just use the water stations to dunk my head, which was needed to stay cool. My legs felt good at the end; I never had to push myself mentally. I just got in a groove and stuck with it.

Focus on running more.

Stretch. Pizza. Electrolytes. Beer. Water. Cookie. Beer. More beer. Hung out with the RIC tri members waiting for my ride to come get me so I could go drink more beer and have a nice brunch.


I could have hammered the bike more, but was unsure as this was my first OLY (and only 3rd tri) so I didn't know how the run was going to go if I cranked too hard. Now, I think I can get on it a little more and start pushing myself into the 20 mph pace level.


The course was shorter than advertised, but still a flat and fast course.