Hickory Knob Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Seems like a really slow swim for me - actually the slowest of my season for this distance. I'm pretty sure that it includes the REALLY steep uphill run from the lake to the TA, but still. Might have been a little long in the water. Or maybe not having a wetsuit on affected me more than I knew.

Warmed-up beforehand - perhaps wear a wetsuit when the water temps get down this low

There was a guy right next to me on the rack talking to his parents the entire time that he was transitioning. It made me want to laugh because I don't want to talk to ANYONE during that time.

Nothing

Oh the bike - my chain popped off going up a hill right before mile 2. Really, really sad. I don't know if it was a mistake I made or if my bike just wanted to rebel. Regardless, I probably wasted at least 2 - 3 minutes getting it back on. Plus - when I layed my bike on the ground, all of the water out of my aero bottle went to nourish the grass on the side of the road. Luckily, I had a bottle of gaterade on my bike that I squeezed into the aero until I reached the water station at mile 16. Of course, when squeezing the gaterade in, I got it all over myself. So basically I rode the next 26 miles covered in grease and stickiness.

The rest of the course was mainly me focused on shifting correctly so that I didn't pop the chain again. The first 20 miles went by really fast. It was a beautiful day for riding. I do seem to remember that it was up and down the entire time. Almost no flat at all so it felt like you were going uphill most of the time.

Work Hills - my average pace was in the 18 range. I was looking more to be in the 19 or 20.

Not shift stupidly.

Great T2. Can probably get a tad faster, but don't know if I need to.

Nothing

Mile 1 was terrible. The lower part of my right leg felt like a block of wood. I kept running through it and chatted with this guy for the first mile or so. We were contemplating the hardness of the steep uphill right after mile 2 of the run and not looking forward to it. Alternated between water and citomax at each water stop.

I knew going into this run that this was one of my last chances (before tri season is over) to run a sub-50 10k (something I've never done before). After my leg was hurting during mile 1, I was thinking that i would just be lucky to finish the run. When I checked my watch at each mile marker however, I noticed that I was running 8 minute miles putting me right on track to hit my goal. The course was hard. I kept pushing. Didn't find out officially until yesterday that I hit sub-50. Yay!

Nothing - I'll take a PR 10k any time.

Walked around finish area. Drank some water. Ate some chocolate.


This race was great - though it was a little difficult for me to get to since it's really out in the country. The course was definitely the hardest that I've ever raced, but it was good to go out on a difficult race.

Volunteers were great at all the water stations - plus they were handing out hammer gel at mile 2.5 of the run.

Awards for Age Group winners were not plaques, but screen-printed arm warmers which is really cool and different. Something that I'll definitely wear with pride.