USAT National Championships - TriathlonOlympic

A flood gate had been opened up due to the heavy rains earlier in the week which made the current what it was. Swim was 200m downstream, about 100m across, 1100 upstream, then another 100 across. I tried to find people to draft off of in the upstream section, but kept losing them. I had trouble spotting the swim exit because of the sun in the river and shade on the shore and ended up having to swim a bit back upstream. Overall, I kept it cool, but fighting against the current really took it out of me for the rest of the race I think.

Threw off the cap and goggles and fumbled a bit with the watch, glasses and helmet, but then took off. This was the first race that I tried having the shoes on the bike. I definitely like it better, but haven't graduated to the flying mount yet.

Don't fumble so much.

I liked the two loop aspect of the course, although I could do without the 3 turn arounds. I was passed by a lot of fast people! The course was set up to be fast and it was with some long gradual grades. A few head winds and cross winds thrown in there.

I feel I could have pushed the bike pace a bit more, but it was still an okay day on the bike.

Flying dismount and helmet off easily. Struggled with the socks and shoes a bit. Decided to carry a water bottle with me for the run, so threw that in the jersey pocket. As I was running out putting on the visor and belt, the water bottle fell out and I went back to get it.

Practice the transition more with the water bottle. I feel that still helped though as I can never drink enough at the aid stations without walking.

I went into this race with one of my goals to run through the run. I started out at a slower pace to be able to make it through. I was on track with my goal until I hit the second hill. I was burnt at this point and walked part of it. Same thing happened on the third hill. By mile 5, I was tired and I stopped to walk a few times to recover. I was getting passed left and right and I don't think I had the mental edge to push myself through it since I was there to have fun with no performance expectations.

Train more on hills and get the body accustomed to recovering quickly while still running. Need to train a LOT more on the run as it's my weakest event evidently.

This was a great race. Due to the current, this was definitely a year that strong swimmers had an advantage. I didn't set any real major goals for this race as I didn't know what I was getting into. I did have a lot of fun though and it was a difficult challenge. With the swim current and the hills on the run, this is definitely a challenging course. If I qualify again next year and it works into my schedule, I'm sure I'll be back to seek revenge. Got lots of running to do in the mean time.