Chelanman - TriathlonOlympic

There were a lot of people confused about where the first turn buoy was before the race. The swim course was set up for sprint, olympic, and half iron distances so there were a lot of big yellow buoys out in the water. Luckily, this didn't end up causing any problems during the swim.

This was my first "mass start". It wasn't a huge start with 200 men starting at the same time but it was bigger than the wave starts that I was used to. I lined up in the middle of the incredibly wide starting area with 2 people in front of me and 1 person behind me. I figured that I could probably out-swim the guy behind me and I was hoping that the guys lined up in front of me would be strong enough to pull away and give me some clean water.

The first 100 meters was pretty uneventful. However, the nicest part of the swim ended up making it more brutal than it would have been otherwise. Once you reached the first sighting buoy (about 100m out) you could then sight off of an underwater buoy line that was suspended 6 feet below the surface (the water was crystal clear). However, everyone wanted to be within sight of this line so it caused a lot of congestion. I decided that not having to sight made the extra pushing and splashing worth it so I maintained a position a few feet to the left of the line for the rest of the initial triangular portion of the swim.

One of my goals for the swim was to not get passed by any of the women that were starting 5 minutes after the men's wave. However, I could only hold them off for about 1000 meters before the first purple swim caps started passing me. The buoy line ended at about this same time and we had to sight a dock and then swim along the shore for the last 200 meters. This was the weird part of the course that I swam for a warmup. The actual line of yellow sighting buoys was only about 3 feet off of the shore in knee-deep water. In order to find water that was deep enough to swim in you had to stay 10-20 feet away from the buoys. Kind of a weird setup as you always felt that you were somewhat off course but it didn't end up causing too many problems.

A few other notables for the swim: I succesfully drafted for about a third of the race. There wasn't much choice if you wanted to stay near the buoy line. I also passed a good number of people during the second half of the swim which was a new experience for me.


The swim ended with a sharp right hand turn right into shore. I attempted to stand up at the turn but it was a bit too early and I floundered for a second before swimming the rest of the way in.

I am EXTREMELY happy with this swim. I felt comfortable and in control the entire time and had zero breathing problems (except for a few lungfuls of water when passing people). It was nice to see that I can reproduce my longer distance open water swimming training in an actual race.

I had some trouble finding my zipper strap on my suit while running into transition but I was able to get it unzipped and to my waist before I actually reached my spot.

Still rocking the ratchet bike shoes + socks so my T1 times aren't going to be stellar anytime soon.

New shoes... don't think I want to give up socks though (especially for something longer than an Olympic).

This was my first race where ages were marked on people's calves. It helped a lot to know who I had to chase and who I could forget about.

I just got new wheels and an entirely new bike fit two days before the race. The short warm-up ride and 40 minutes on the trainer at home were my only experiences on this new fit and I was anxious to see how my legs would respond in the race.

Tried to keep a steady consistent pace the entire time. I don't train with heartrate or a power meter so I have been basing everything off of perceived exertion and can get sucked into repeated spurts of hard effort if I am not careful.

My nutrition plan was going perfectly until about two miles after the turn-around. I had two bottles of diluted Gatorade Endurance that were supposed to last the bike leg. The front bottle was almost empty and I had yet to touch the bottle on my down tube. All of a sudden the down tube bottle cage disintegrates and the full bottle goes flying (there is still a tiny part of the bottle cage attached to the bike). The guy behind me was able to avoid it and there was nobody else in danger. This left me with about 4oz of Gatorade for the remaining 10 miles of the bike leg... and the temperature was continuing to rise. Luckily, I was only a half mile away from the bike aid station and I was able to eject my empty bottle and pick up a bottle of water. No calories but I had a gel waiting for me in transition if I felt like I needed it. I lamented the loss of my two favorite water bottles and moved on.

No problems with the new fit that I could tell. I felt much stronger on the hills than I used to and aero feels much more natural.

Don't buy another cheap plastic bottle cage.

I was very happy to break 20mph but I still feel that I should be going faster on the bike. It will continue to be my focus area. The new fit has helped a lot.

Racked my bike, grabbed my stuff, and booked it. I may have stood there for an extra 5 seconds to make sure I had everything since it was my first time running with a hat and bringing a gel on the run.

Get used to having a hat in transition. My hands felt full carrying my race belt, hat, and a gel packet out of transition.

I passed a guy in my AG about 100 feet out of transition and was able to use that adrenaline to kick-start my legs a bit. I also ate the gel immediately after topping the first hill since I was a bit nervous about the gatorade I lost on the bike.

The heat was getting to be somewhat of a factor by this point in the race but it was nowhere near as bad as it was when I arrived the day before. Many of the spectators and volunteers along the road had hoses, squirt guns, or spray bottles and it helped a TON. Just when you felt yourself starting to overheat a bit you would get a nice shower of cold water.

After mile 4 it started to get pretty hard. I was still passing people but my legs were really heavy. I started playing the "guess their age" game to keep my mind off of it. Most of the calf age markings were rubbed off enough by that point that you couldn't read them easily until you were right on someones shoulder. It is incredible how hard it is to figure out how old someone is looking at their backside. I'd target someone ahead of me that looked to be in my age group only to find out they were in their 50s when I passed them.

The last mile was a bit of a struggle but the finish line was in sight (literally) and the thought of jumping back in the lake kept me going.

I felt like I was running an 8:30 pace so I was extremely surprised when I saw the results. I can't think of anything that I would have changed on this run.

Drank a few cups of water and tried to choke down some Heed (can't stand the taste of it). I was sad that there were no muffins but I made up for it by having two big chunks of cinnamon raisin bread with cream cheese. Then it was into the lake to cool down... it felt great!

I ran into someone I had been talking to before the race when I was picking up my bike. It turns out she had the same bike as me (Trek 2.1T)! First time I have seen someone else rocking one of those at a race. Go Trek!

It also turns out that I just BARELY qualified for USAT Age Group Nationals in Alabama on August 22nd. The top 33% in each age group qualify and I am right on the edge.


I was probably not completely used to the new bike fit after only riding on it twice briefly before the race.


Well run race in an amazing location. If you can handle the heat I highly recommend it.