Columbia Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I was least concerned with the swim portion of the race and I lined up in an aggressive position. In the first 500 yards I had trouble in the crowd - I'm used to swimming in a crowd but seemed to have trouble compensating. I swallowed that tasty lake water a couple times and had to stop once, which never happens to me. Finally as we rounded the first turn at the dam I went wide and found clear water and settled into my rhythm. From that point it was a nice uneventful swim. I tended to be a bit too wide and probably swam a few extra yards to get clear water, but I didn't feel much like jockeying for position anymore. In the last leg of the swim I found I was swimming through lots of long lake grasses. Underwater it gave a really cool effect of speed, kind of like a simulated flight through a star field. Except this was green brown water and goose poop. Ended up finishing 31/218 in my age group. The only respectable part of my race, really.

I set a personal record here. Not a good one. Longest T1 Ever. Probably a world record. I did not approach transitions today with any sense of urgency, instead I focused on what I needed to avoid a DNF. So, I had a gel, drank some gatorade, took care to get dry socks on, even stretched a little bit, knowing I was woefully unprepared for the upcoming ride and future 10K run. Ended up 191/218 in the AG ranking! OUCH.



Nothing, under the same circumstances. Everything if I was better trained and prepared to race.

A quick look at my logs and you'll notice that this ride officially increased my mileage by nearly 200% for the year. Broken bike, bad weather, a minor injury, and my schedule all converged into a perfect storm of keeping me off the bike this spring. So my approach was to simply ride to enjoy the ride, and try to conserve enough that I can make the 10K run that follows. And that's exactly what I did. I was just happy to be riding again! I stayed right, thanked those who called out 'on your left' (there were many), and just rode at whatever pace I could manage while keeping my HR steady.

I did find that the bike was more crowded this year than in the past - lots of groups riding and I could have issued more than a few penalties for drafting, passing on the right, and side-by-side riding.

More troubling was some of the carnage I witnessed; a horrible wreck at tridelphia reservoir that required EMT assistance, lots of people with blown tires, and one guy w/ a chain that snapped while he was out of the saddle on a steep climb sending him tumbling off the road. The wet roads were not safe and I found myself riding conservatively on the downhills and in the traffic circles.

I did find myself running out of gas toward the end. The last climb on Folly Q to 108 I actually dropped into my lowest chain (I ride a triple) which I haven't done since riding the Savageman course 3 years ago.

Hmmmm. Don't know. Any suggestions :-)

Again, focus was to simply survive the day, so I took time to change to dry socks, stretch my hamstring out, eat gel & drink a bit, then move out. Time and AG rank were even worse than T1.

I fully expected to come off the bike ready to call it quits, but I felt better than I thought. I was dreading the first hill at the 0.5 mark (on the park trail) since once before I had a major cramp in my hamstring on that hill. Once I made it to the top without any walking, I knew I was going to pull this run off. Still running conservatively, I allowed myself to walk briefly (20-25 paces only) at water stops and/or mile markers. I was running slowly, but I was running (and many others around me were walking a lot). I just kept plodding along all the way to the finish.

Hmmmmm. Don't know. Any suggestions?

Hmmmmm. Don't know. Any suggestions?


So it really was an interesting experiment; could I complete this race with a bare minimum of training? I suppose the answer is yes. I'm happy that I did it, because I always enjoy this race, but I'm not particularly proud of my performance. It's my 5th time doing this race, I finished 30 min slower than last time, 36 min from my PR on the course. I'm quite lucky I didn't injure myself, but I was aware of my limitations this year and didn't push it.