Miami Man Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

This was by far my strongest swim ever. I was in the LAST wave to start, so it wasnt nearly as crowded, but with 100 people in the wave, there was plenty of bumping on the way to the first bouy. I started in wave 19, all relays, Males 0-24, and all Clydsdales. The way out to the first bouy, i just swam, and got sandwiched a little bit, so i had to go around 3 big guys. After that i caught a draft for a good third of the course with some guy who could swim really well. I was surprisingly not freaked out, and managed to continue freestyle the whole distance. At the first bouy, i remember thinking, "wow, i am already here?" and the same thought at the major turnaround for the second and third bouys! I thought that hey, if i could do halfway like this, lets keep going. Around that time, i wound up swimming into the wave that started 5 min before me! What a new experience! THat NEVER happens. Halfway through the backstrech (maybe 3/4 total distance) i caught some people 2 waves before me!!! I remember rolling onto my back to look behind me to see my race place for the upcoming bike and seeing a TON of green swim caps like mine behind me, and looking around me and only seeing a few. I was in the front of the swim! I guess the time in the pool working on technique has really helped. At the last bouy, i started to get a little tired, and my breathing was really bad. I just switched to side stroke in a draft for about 20 seconds, and after that i was good to go again. Came into the finish very strong and swam until my hand hit ground, and just like that my swim was over.

I didnt have my watch on, so i didnt know my time yet, but i was feeling that it was fast exiting the water. I was all smiles!

Rankings: 1/9 Age Group
85/622 overall
62/390 Gender

Not to much. Continue to work on technique and breathing. I wound up breathing every 2 strokes instead of every 3 like normal. Im not to sure what caused it, but it caused me to continually turn a little bit to the left. I noticed it and corrected it for the long back stretch.

T1 had a very long run included in it. Upon exiting the water, ran up the path and got my wetsuit down to my waist with no problems. This race had wetsuit strippers, and i went to the biggest dude i could find, sat down, and he yanked the wetsuit off in what must have been less than 5 seconds! Took off running for the actual transition area. This began my passing spree.

Got to my bike rack with no issues. Socks on, sunglasses, helmet, and took off. I spent maybe 30 seconds at the rack, and then continued on to the bike start. I left my shoes clipped into the pedals so i could do the flying start that i practiced, and i guess i hit a bump while running with the bike and the shoes reversed themselves on me.

Absolutely Nothing. Maybe use some stronger rubber bands.

My favorite part of the tri. Winds with NOAA were 32 mph sustained gusting to 38, so i felt every bit of it. The first half was all downwind and crosswinds, and i knew that i would have to save some for the return trip. The first crosswind was fine, and i was sustaining about 22 mph, feeling good, just starting to get recovered from the swim. When i turned for the first downwind though, i spent maybe a minute at 25 mph, felt fully recovered, and started to push the pace. Held about 29-31 for what felt like forever, and never once felt like i was tiring my legs out. I actually had to pass several cars during this time, which kind of sucked. Traffic was not fun, but the police were doing a great job attempting to keep everyone in line. (more on that later) When i hit the second crosswind leg, i made my approach on the turn just like normal, slowed slightly, out of aero and lean and turn. Except i forgot about the wind. So here i am, at about 18 mph, and riding in the grass. Off the road. Yup. I washed out so far on the turn that i managed to overshoot the next road completely! I successfully kept the bike upright and steered back onto the road, and off i went again. Continued on at my increased pace until the turnaround. Managed to eat a mini cliff bar about 2 miles to the turnaround, and i am not sure if i actually need to do this for an international. I think this might have caused some of the cramping later.

At the turnaround, one girl in front of me decided to unclip from her bike and turnaround by walking her bike. Me and the 2 other people in between us almost had a crazy accident. Survived that and begin the long "uphill" trek back to transition with all headwinds and crosswinds. The first short upwind i held about 18-19 mph, and didnt feel like i was killing myself. I caught up to one of the elite for the half iron distance and actually held pace for him for a while. That was neat. He passed me a little later, and when we turned to go back crosswind he opened up some distance. Then i got passed by another half iron elite, and he was gone. I think he was the ONLY person to pass me the entire bike. The second LONG upwind i was trying to hold 17-19 mph, and i think the lowest i saw was 16. The wind was killer. I cant even begin to describe what i saw out there. I was passing people pretty fast and i was only going 16 mph! They must have been under 10... If you think about it, i was feeling 50 mph headwinds, so i guess it makes sense.

The last crosswind back to transition was good, back up to about 21 mph. I was consciencely trying to hold back in preparation for the run. Still passing people. I could feel a slight cramp coming on my right side with about 1 mile remaining, but i didnt think much about it. The last intersection was insane. Cops yelling at people to stop when they tell them, cars ignoring the cops, and bikes trying to get back... I decided to just go for it and thankfully didnt get hit. That was the worst part of the ride for me. I got out of the shoes and prepared for dismount. Hopped off the bike and promptly..... ran into someone who decided to stop. Fortunatly i just barely glanced him, but it was prett crazy.

Not to much, i think the major limiting factor was the traffic unfortuntly. I felt like i could have gone a little quicker, but then again, my run sucked, so i probably need to pace this a little better. This was my first race with my race wheels, and i have to say, i loved them!

Good transition. No complaints here. The guy in the rack adjacent to me saw me and i heard him say "how did he do that so fast?" I was pretty syked!

36/622 fastest T2

Nothing. I only spent about 20 seconds at the rack changing shoes.

Not a good run for me... I was shooting for 7 min miles and i felt confident to do this. Almost immediately after transition, the cramps were killing me. I had a right hand side stitch that killed me. My first 3 miles were bad. I decided that i needed to take some Gatoraide with water at the aid stations and immediately felt an impact. The next three miles went relatively easily, and i began passing people again. I enjoyed running miles 3-6 actually, which is odd, because I was a 400 meter runner in college, and my endurance was very much in the anaerobic range. I feel like this was a learning experience though, and i will be better prepared for the run next time.

More run training.

Walk around, enjoy the race atmosphere, and wait for my friends to finish. I saw HeatMizerKW in the finish zone and went over to congratulate him. Walked around and got a really good stretch in.


Run Training. i have been so focused on the swim, that i neglected the run a little bit. I will defintely increase the training, and with a 5k coming up, it will sure help. I have no real complaints about the race, i was happy to race well at my first international distance race. The interesting thing was that when i thought about it, my effort that i placed (physically) didnt seem to be that much more than a sprint, but then again, i have been taking my training alot more seriously over the past 3 months.


Great race, i would highly recommend this race for anyone, and i hope that i can get back next year, even though i will be in Michigan at this time next year.