Paris Mountain Triathlon - TriathlonOther

Swim must have been short...I was out of the water in just over 5 min then had to run a little bit to T1 which counted to the swim. Felt really good swimming and felt strong/fast. Definitely not ~1 min/100 yard fast, but 1:30 or better was how I felt. Caught a bunch of people, which was surprising and nice. By far my best ever swim compared to the pack.

Oh, and bottom was icky!!! Lots of weeds muck. I hate open water and this stuff, I was NOT pleased about that!

Not much. Could have swam faster but it was comfortable and left be not tired for the bike, but it was wicked short, so that helped.

Good. Put shoes on in T1 and jumped on bike to start (it was downhill so easy).

Seeing as I've never practiced a transition, it wasn't bad.

Felt great on the bike. Pushed hard, HR was up from the start. Noticed it was high but I never felt like I was overexerting so kept it up. Plus at 20 miles I thought just under LT was fine. Passed a lot of people here, but I started late in the TT start so I was sort of expecting this. Kept pace/back and forth with a guy from the open male division. He attacked a hill and I thought in the back of my mind, "well, thats gonna kill him later" and sure enough, a couple miles later and passed him and never saw again. I think I drink too much water on the bike, so held back a little and it worked really well.

I have a Speedfil (so a tube in front of my face like an aerodrink). I may have cut it a little short, so I have to look down to drink. Almost flew through a left turn doing this. And almost flew into the people in front of me who were smart and had slowed. Took it really wide and was ok. I was honestly a little worried I'd get a penalty cause I was a little out of control and came up beside someone on the right. None, though, phew...

The climb was sweet. I was totally stoked about passing a bunch of people, but then realized that a ton of people not in the tri were riding it too. Bummer. I knew that there was cash money on the line for the fasted split, but didn't think it'd be worth it to go balls to the wall up it (considering the run was up a mountain too) so pushed at similar effort/HR too. Really happy with the Compact crank and 11-25 cassette. It was awesome to be able to spin instead of grind up even the steep sections. I think this really helped me stay smooth and save the quads (and prevent cramp issues I've had on the run after longer bikes). Sort of with I hit it a little harder, but hindsight is 20/20.

Had a gel after the climb. Decent was a little scary with some blind curves and not being sure exactly how sharp/smooth they were. Pushed it to the end and was ready to run.

Balls to the wall on the climb!!!!

My fasted T2 ever. Decided at the last minute to take my shoes off on the bike since I now have Tri shoes. Only got one off in time though...haha, gotta plan better next time :)

Forgot to pull my Yanks tight before leave T2 so had to stop quickly on the run to tighten my laces. NBD though.

tighten laces in T2

I ran this ANGRY! Missed a turn early that was NOT marked (and the guy behind me didn't say anything). Ran an extra .2 miles/about 1:20. I was PISSED. Lots of f-bombs. Passed by three people. Caught an Open Female first, but 2 males were farther ahead and gaining going up the mountain. I decided not to chase them down on the up hoping they'd burn out and I'd catch them later on the down. Run up was hard! Was over 170 bpm, but not worried since I'd recover on the down. Very happy to get to the top and on the trail.

So the trail...it was not a trail for running, it was a hiking trail. I was scared I would kill myself going down. Lots of jumping off/over rocks roots around switchbacks and stuff. Very happy I've trained trail runs before. Lots of bounding and such. Caught one dude early. Then it leveled out and caught another Open female and the other kid who passed me on my wrong turn. Turns out it was the triathlon phenom 14 year old who Lindsay and I saw on the cover of a magazine the day before in Greenville. Wow. He's gonna be scary fast. Really drained at the end. Didn't have much for a finishing kick, 14 year old almost caught me. When I crossed the announcer said I was the first age grouper to finish and I was super stoked. I really didn't want to get happy, not jinx myself cause obviously nothing is final til the end.

Not make a wrong turn. I estimated it was an extra .2 miles/1:20. Cost me 2 places in the run splits, but non overall, so not a big deal in the end.

didn't eat the gel I brought, cause I didn't think I'd need it. May have been a little lacking energy at the end, but overall not a big deal. I think it helps my GI to be "light" on the run.

stretch, eat, stretch, eat, repeat.


wrong turn obvi, but otherwise pretty happy.


There could have been more volunteers on turns on the run. was unsure a few times, especially on the trail (and the missed turn). There were orange arrows I realized, but being colorblind they were all but invisible to me while running (had to slow down to see them a couple times).