The Nation's Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Not expecting much in the swim. Hadn't been in the pool in 2-3 months. Bouys every 100 meters helped immensely with sighting, swim felt good all things considered.

Masters, only training in the past three years that has kept me swimming consistently. I hate swimming by myself.

I knew I'd be slow here due to distance coupled with weather, but this is just plain horrendous. Had my cap off and tops of wetsuit off by the time I got to the end of the dock. Thought T1 was going pretty well. Unsure of where I lost so much time as I wasn't wearing socks. Transition area was big, but I didn't get lost.

??? Forgot to put my straw in my aero bottle ahead of time, and I had to find it in my tri bag before leaving.

Had a great time on the bike. The roads were wet and probably pretty slick, but I didn't notice. The volunteers were great, pointing out puddles, lotholes, upcoming tight and wet turns. First Oly with a 20+ mph average. Passed about as many as passed me. Pleased.

Learn the course ahead of time. At any given time I was unsure how far or how long I had ridden and what I had left.

More along the lines of where I thought I might be, but still slow. Still no socks. They were too wet to wear.

Speed laces.

Run was strange. Never felt out of breath at all. Had quite a few runners talk to me as we were running (wearing a CU bike jersey) and was able to maintain a conversation but could never get my legs to move faster. I was passed throughout the entire run segment and only passed a few people. Time wasn't horrible, but I had been running more than I ever had before up until the end of July, so I had hoped to do better.

Bike more. I think my lack of biking prior to the race hurt my run tremendously.

None


At the end of July, I got into a motorcycle accident. Injuries were minimal, just a bit of road rash, and a sore foot, but it took a lot out of me mentally. My desire to train went out the window as it was somewhat uncomfortable to run. I should have taken advantage of this and gotten back into the pool and on the bike, but there was a severe lack of motivation since I had hoped to do very well in this race, my only race of the season.


Mixed feelings. It was my one "destination" (and only) race of the year, so I wanted to make it count. It was in the town where I grew up, so there was extra motivation there. Days before the race, knowing how poorly I had been training, I had low expectations, hoping to finish in under 3 hrs, but knowing that had I gotten my head out of my a** after the accident I could have pushed for much much faster (maybe under 2:35?). I was pleased with my time, pleased with how I felt during the race and afterwards, but disappointed as well with the possibility of what could have been. Rain was a bleassing in disguise. I was never hot, and never thirsty. The temperature was perfect for racing. My father and brother were there to watch, and a longtime friend rocked it, finishing 5th in our age group and 98th overall, so it was a good day.