The Nation's Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

1st experience wearing a wet suit. I know it's not a good thing to do new things on race day, but the river cooled off 10 degrees in the past week, and thought going with a sleeveless would be helpful That was kind of a mixed bag. I rented a suit. Jumping in was great. I felt warm and bouyant. I liked that. Began to swim, and about 100 yards in I felt incredibly constricted in my chest. I've read other reports about that, and didn't think it could happen to me since the suit felt like it was a good fit, and even though I am a slow swimmer, I am very comfortable and strong in the water. Well, after that first 100 yards, I had serious doubts about being able to finish the swim, even though I had done some OWS swims in a lake and the ocean this summer, and several long swims of 2000-3000 yards. I decided to breast stroke for awhile to settle down, and then alternate with crawl. Did my best to swim on the fringes and keep out of the way of people. Still, it amazed me how many people swim diagonally. My sighting was pretty, good, and made it my goal to swim to the bridge, and hopefully find something to grab onto for a rest and see if there was something I could do to loosen the chest. Slowly, I worked my way to the bridge. Yes! Not only did the bridge have a ledge I could prop my arms on, there was a ledge underwater I could stand on. Rested for a minute, unzipped my suit about halfway, cleared my goggles, and I was off again. Much better! From then on, nice smooth crawl all the way back. Previously considered another rest stop at the bridge, but knew I wouldn't need it now. Still was getting swum into now and then, and on the way back, the sun glare to the left was pretty bad, so just breathed on the right.

More practice in a wetsuit.

It was a nice leisurely brunch in T1 with a few friends.... I took my time because I wanted clear my mind about the swim and to be composed for the bike, but I could hurry a little more than that! Had some more water, and 3 shot blocks for the bike.

Jog, or walk faster.

In the NJ Sprint, I went out too hard, and it cost me in my run. My goal today was to ride the same as in training. 16.5 to 17 mph, and maintain a good cadence. I did that very well. Considering my bike is 23 years old, and 25-30 pounds, I was pretty happy. With all the rear wheel issues, and now being told the frame was twisted, I was worried about it making it 25 more miles. Noticed a new rubbing sound, loosened the front brake, but that wasn't it. Difficulty shifting into the little cog. Stayed on the small chainring the whole way, and maintained 80-90 cadence then entire time. Did some passing, got passed a lot, but was really comfortable riding. Lots of cracks, crevices, and other gotcha's in the road. The last mile coming down to the end was great. Zoomed in to lots of cheers. Thanks crowd!

New, lighter, more reliable bike, and some focused technique training over the winter.

Long way back to my bike spot. Guy on the other side racked his bike in such a way so it was taking up his spot and mine. Fixed that, put shoes, hat, and race belt on. Couple more shot blocks and away. Forgot I didn't want the sunglasses and couldn't find my stuff. Should have just pitched the POS's away.

Not worry about sunglasses.

My goal for the run was 1- Finish, 2- Run the entire time without walking, and stretch goal, finish under a 10 minute pace doing a negative split. Started out well. First mile was 9:45. I was wearing my Naval Academy Jersey, so it's pretty encouraging to hear people cheer for Navy. Guy comes up behind me during the first mile, and askes if I went to the Academy. I said yes I did, class of '82. He said, well, '74 is passing you! Damn upperclassmen! Second mile was 20:05. So far, so good. Here's where I think I made my mistake. In training, water was usually optional, but I always took a gu about 25-30 minutes into the run. Decided I felt good, was running in the shade when there was some, and I was fine, and could make it without. First 2 miles were not easy, but easier than the brick the week before where I ran 5 miles sub 10. At about 3.5 miles, Diane was on the course, and ran on the sidewalk with me for about a half mile. That was good, and was still on track for 10m. She said she had found a gu, and asked if I needed it. Stupidly, said no, and missed a good opportunity. She peeled off, and it was the last 2 miles in town. At 4.25, misread my watch, and thought only 1.5 more to go. Then at 4.6, realized still had 1.5 to go, and was starting to hurt. Blisters were forming and starting to heat up on both feet due to wearing the wrong socks, which turned out to be cotton. Drank two big cups of water, at the last station, and was really hurting. Told myself that today, walking was not an option. Decided maybe even a last minute gu might help. It seemed to almost within minutes, so psychologically, that was probably a good call. Finally seeing the finsish line was great, and chugged in to the end. The crowd at the finish was awesome!

Stick to my training, nutrition planning. Run more intervals, lose more weight.

2 bottles of water, and a powerade.


My original concerns after signing up for the Nation's tri, was starting in the last swim wave at 9am, and not being able to finish in 4 hours by 1pm. Then my goal was 3:45. Finally, with training improvement, my goal became 3:15-3:30. In the end, the final gu, and not being used to a wetsuit limited my ability.


For as many people as there were, the race itself went great. I thought the post-race food was pretty lame, and passed that up. Wished I had eaten it though, because walking 1.5 miles to the metro, and then 1 mile home with my bike and very heavy transition bag was as brutal as anything that day. Next year, I age group up, and will be even leaner and faster. I will do this race again because it was a pretty good course (in my limited experience). I want to see how I will improve next year.