Memphis in May - TriathlonOlympic

I did not practice any OW sighting since last year and had difficulty sighting, zig zagged a lot. Breathing and overall cardio in the water were fine, but pace was too slow for the distance. No swim WU before race so shoulders and arms felt heavy until after first buoy.


Practice sighting in OWS as possible.

Slow taking off wetsuit and putting on shoes and helmet. However, I was very glad I put shoes on in T1 rather than jump on bike (Easier to start uphill on bike with shoes on). One of the race volunteers I spoke with saw plenty of riders falling last year as they were trying to get into their shoes while starting up the hill. He warned me against it and I was glad I listened.

I plan to cut off some of the ankle part of my wetsuit. Too hard getting these size 13's out of the suit legs.

Bike was windy but affected everyone. My 404/808's were about right and I didn't feel the crosswinds were too bad. I did not bike as hard as I could have or should have. I need to dial in my pacing better. Stayed aero >95% of time, although lower back began to cramp at mile 22.


I am typically a stronger biker than in this performance but for some reason I did not push it hard enough on the bike. Need to practice pacing on the bike that will allow me to still run hard. However, I give myself a little slack as this was my first time at an Oly and I was not used to pacing the distance.
I would eat at least one more gel on the bike as I got hungry in mile 4 of the run.

Mistake to leave shoes on bike and run to rack because rough trans surface made me slow a little - I think I would have been faster running in my cleats. Yankz were tight and had trouble putting on shoes.

I wasn't sure how I would race this year. My half-marathon pace from earlier this spring was a 7:46 min/mi on a hilly course so my initial goal was an 8:00 min/mi, which I beat. I felt good in the first mile of the run which probably meant that I should have picked it up on the bike. Began to push after the turnaround to maintain even pacing. Felt hungry at mile 4. Picked up hard with 800m to end.



Run was good and I picked up some places. I wouldn't have changed a whole lot on the run.

Ate pulled pork


Technique: Poor sighting in the water and deciding to not go faster earlier in the bike.


This is a good race an I'd come down for it again. Its nice to have an OWS with warm water so early in the year (I'm from Wisconsin).