West Point Lake Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Did I mention that the water was HOT? It honestly was what I imagine swimming in urine would feel like (not the best thought when the water is an opaque dark brown). Definitely feel like this probably slowed down my time. Also, since this was my first time doing a full tri longer than a sprint, I was a little concerned with going all out on the swim (my forte) and having nothing left for the run. Felt strong through the swim though and luckily managed to avoid snorkle guy (that apparently kicked both BTer's Motivated and TriComet).

Nothing maybe. Perhaps shave off a few more minutes just by going harder at the swim - now that I know what it feels like to do a bike and run after this distance. Overall, I'm pleased with the time though.

Since I was a low race number, my bike was on the first rack next to the swim run in. Was able to get socks, shoes and helmet on without any major problems.

Just get faster getting my socks and shoes on. Nothing that practice can't take care of.

Took a gel at mile 6 of the ride and basically used all of my water out of my aerobottle. Only drank a little bit of gatorade at mile 15. Felt like I was going slow when I kept getting passed early on in the ride. Since biking is the newest sport to me, I didn't really have anything to gauge my performance on during the ride.

Unusual circumstance on the bike - at mile 12, a guy came up and rode asked to borrow the mini-pump off my bike (I guess he came unprepared). I actually stopped and unclipped to pull the pump off. I guess it wasn't something that a serious rider would do, but I was feeling nice that day (and it doesn't hurt that the guy was cute). He rode the next 14 miles with my bike pump either in his hand or stuck in the back of his shorts. Not my idea of a fun ride.

I definitely need to do longer training rides. Also, just acclimate myself to hills better.

Bike shoes off, Running shoes on (double-knotted), helmet off, visor on, race belt on. All in all, went pretty well. It's always exciting to hear your name called out of the loudspeaker when leaving transition.

Same thing - just faster.

Coming into the race, I was concerned about how I'd transition from bike to run (lack of training bricks on my part). After getting off my bike and seeing my personal watch say 1:48:(something), I realized that I had a really good chance of hitting my goal of under 3 hours. I just told myself "Okay, work it out. You only have to do 10 minute miles and you make it well under 3 hours."
Of course, after getting off my bike and going so fast, I felt like I was going no where on my run. Let's just say that I was a little surprised when I hit mile 1 on the run and looked down at my watch to see that I'd just done an 8 minute mile. Great, I thought, I can even move down to an 11 minute mile pace.
Who knows what it was that pushed me to keep running. Or why I was able to run so fast. A 52 minute 10k is a PR for me though and I am probably the most surprised of anyone.

Again, not much. Looks like cutting down on my running (only 3 days a week) has really aided in my speed ability. Continue with routine.

Mmm - the best part. Ice cold rags for your head, delicious strawberry popsicles and a mist tent that felt SO much better than the lake water temp. Then just some light stretching while I waited for friends to cross the finish line.


I'm fairly pleased with my performance especially since this was my first tri of this season and my first Olympic distance ever. Maybe just train a little more seriously on the bike portion. Also, I think that just knowing what an Olympic distance feels like is really going to help me in the future. I'm going to try to keep doing the same routine (taper,food,etc.) for future races since it seemed to work for me here.


I loved this race. Will be on my calendar every year. Was definitely hot, but was really well organized and they did their best to keep you cooled down (especially on the run).
I had a great performance and even walked away with some hardware. (Large plaques given out as awards - really nice!) Having a race like yesterday definitely makes you ready to head the road (and water) full-speed ahead.