Life Time Fitness Triathlon - Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

Actually ran into water. Started swimming about 50 yds and felt like my right goggle was starting to leak, so I pushed it onto my eye HARD. That wasn't any better. I couldn't really see too well out of my right I because I had created a SERIOUS vacuum...enough to make my eye start watering.:) Sucked it up (literally) and just kept swimming. This was a staggered start (1 person starts every 3 seconds), so really weird dynamics. I was being wimpy and left a gap between me and the buoys so the upcoming 'fast' people could pass on my right and not have to run over me. I could have swum a little closer to the buoys and sucked it up, but didn't because off the chop. Didn't have too many incidents. The usual few unintentional bumps. One guy did swim over me diagonally. He was off-course and wanted to get closer to the buoys. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, because it was a little tough to sight. There were light green buoys to mark the course. There were light green swim caps out in the water. It was tough picking out the buoys from the caps. Had a good final 400 yards. Swam strong and swam all the way until my hands touched the bottom. As I was running up the beach, I unzipped the wetsuit and ripped off the swim cap. Someone yelled 'you lost your goggles!' Started thinking to myself 'is it worth it going back for $16 goggles?' The answer was yes. The person apologized cuz I came back for them. Not her fault!

Have my goggles in place well before the start. Take goggles off before cap. :)

Peed BEFORE getting to transition. Still can't pee in the water no matter how hard I try. No problem with helmet and shoes. Went sockless.

Learn to pee in the water.

Course felt tough for some reason. Kept it slow for 1st mile to get HR down. Just a little frustrated with a few cyclists. The usual: riding on the left at a slower pace. Riding up hills on the left at a slower pace before a left-handed turn. Had to slow down at a few of the corners because of this, because I did not want to pass on the right.

Lost my chain on the front chainring on one uphill shifting to small chainring. Tried to shift front and rear almost simultaneously. Got lucky and shifted back up to big chainring and it caught. That would have ticked me off if I had to jump off my bike.

PowerAde throughout ride (aerobottle). Gel at mile 20.

More time in the saddle. Check shifting adjustment from big to small chainring. Not get frustrated with 'newbies.' We all start somewhere.

Nothing big. Wished I had picked up some Yankz at the Expo.

Buy some Yankz and get used to them before the triathlon.

Kept it calm and relaxed the 1st loop. Gel at mile 3. Water on head and PowerAde at every aid station. Picked it up on miles 3 and 4. Slowed quite a bit for mile 5 (I think I just wanted to finish strong...photo op, you know). Picked it up slightly for last mile.

Keep a more consistent pace thoughout the run. Wear socks. Had a few small blisters at the end of the run.

COULD NOT WALK. Quads cramped. I kept bending down to stretch them out. Could walk again after about 25 yds of walking. Talked to Jenn, Dianna and Megan. They did the sprint relay. They ended up taking 2nd place. Stayed and talked to Chris, Mark, Scotty, Steve & Terry for a while. Picked up a 2 cheeseburger meal at McDonald's.


Nothing. More desire and more training.


Great race (B race for me). Constructive criticism: More organized body-marking. Body-marking locations not clearly marked. Some lines were as long as 100 people. Some lines had 5. Wished I had known we could enter transition area WITHOUT body-marking. Would have reduced my stress level. I would've come back to body-marking after transition set-up.

Overall, great course. Beautiful bike course, especially along and over the river. Will do again next year if I don't have to pay for the entry fee (sponsored this year). $125 - 150 is a bit much...:)