Memphis in May Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Time trial start sending people off every 3 seconds. I was just thrashing around in the water untill the first bouy. It wasn't untill then that I remembered to swim and not just flail away at the water. By then I had wasted a lot of energy and it took me a few minutes to get myself and my breathing calmed back down. Once I did that the rest of the swim was pretty uneventful except getting passed by tons of people.

My time was good for me though.

Train more in open water and work on my swim more. My navigation was horrible. I halfway wasted myself trying to find my way around what was a pretty straightforeward course.

Long jog down to my rack, but it was right at the exit. Wetsuit a little hard to get off, but I did OK. Glasses on, helmet on, socks and shoes on and grabbed my bike.

Nothing really, I'm not pretending to be an AG contender so I take my time and just mount my bike normally.

Here is where everything went all wrong. I actually felt good going into the bike, but that quickly turned to shit.

#1: I messed up and mixed my drink my way too strong. It was like drinking salt water and quickly made me feel bloated. I try to get down as much early into rides so that it's not sloshing around in my stomache for the run. In trying to force down this toxic coctail, I felt bloated and didn't want to drink much after 10 miles.

#2: Get rid of that thing my wife has now named the water rocket. I've never had problems with my X-lab saddle wing before and I normally ride on pretty rough roads, but today that think had a mind of its own. I lost my bottle THREE Goddamn times. Twice I turned around to pick up my bottle and after the third time I just sacrificed it to the Tri gods in hope that it would change my luck. Not so, about a mile after that both tubes came flying out of their straps. So now I am bloated and without a flat fix it the need arises.

#3 - I hastily put on my race number this morning and within 1/2 mile it was blowing all the place and rubbing my thighs. Finally I just jammed it as far back on my top tube as it would go and it stayed put only minorly rubbing my legs with each pedal stroke.

About the only good thing I can say about the bike is at least I didn't crash or flat.

Get rid of the saddle wing and go with a bottle on the down tube and small bag for the other crap.

Get my nutrition right.

Learn how to affix my race number so that it stays put and doesn't get in the way.

Cycling shoes off, helmet off, shoes on, grabbed my visor and race belt and away I went.

My wife was right there and I told her how bad I was struggling.

Nothing that I can think of.

I actually felt OK for the first 2 miles but my bloated stomache had all that it could take. I actually was hoping I would puke just to ease the bloated feeling. I couldn't take down any more water and was feeling pretty bad. I made it to the mile 3 marker before I started walking and from there it was run 5-7 minutes, walk 1. Really more like half trot than run though. I would guess that at least 150 people passed me on the run.

Get my nutrition right on the bike and do some longer endurance to get me used to hard efforts longer than 2 hours.

Waited around for a little while and finally felt like I could take down some fluids. Drank almost a liter of water and a few beers.


See above


I enjoyed the race even though I completely screwed it up. It was my first Olympic, so I got that out of the way and know what I need to do to improve my performance.

Got to meet several people on BT and Coach Mike.

Overall I had a good weekend and hope to go back next year.