Tri for Real Olympic Distance #2 - TriathlonOlympic

Woo hoo! OK, I'm not that fast, but I just LOVE triathlon swimming. This here is my longest swim ever, and I gotta say I was a little shell shocked when I visually saw how far away the bouys were... I knew I could do it, and knew I could always just float on my back for a while if I needed a break, but damn that looked like a long ways!

There were only about 40 or so in our wave, so no problem with positioning or anything. At the gun, I just settled into a nice easy pace. No trying to catch anyone, no drafting, just swim long and easy. Reach. Breathe easy. Sight. Glide. No issues at all out to the first bouy. I did have a little incidental contact here and there, and I think someone was drafting me cause I'd occasionally feel hands touch my feet (which made me laugh a little. I mean, really, someone drafting off of *me*? Too cool!) but I sighted dead straight (sighting every 4-5 strokes or so) and had a fairly clean turn around the first bouy.

After the first turn, things went a little bad... I went to sight, and couln't see shit! My goggles were a little fogged up, and we were now looking straight into the sun. At first I just made sure I had swimmers on both sides of me and figured that was good enough, but eventually realized I had gotten off alone on the left and was pretty far from the line. I'm not talking massive right angle or anything, but I was a good 30 yards left of the nearest swimmer at one point. About 1/2 way to the second turn bouy I sat up into a doggie paddle for a second, took off my goggles and got a good look around. Doh! I was definately off course... I re-directed and started up again. I still couldn't sight normally, so I'd just do a super quick float, lift goggles and look avery few minutes. I don't think it cost me too much time, and I did stay much better on line after starting to do that.

Second bouy was fine, and it was easy to see now that we had turned so no more sighting issues in to the finish line. The wave behind me was catching me here, and I tried drafting a little. Didn't work too well, I think they were just so much faster for me to even think about latching on... anyway, as Dory says, just keep swimming... I swam in until my hands hit the ground, then stood up and headed up the hill.

The swim split was provided by the race, I'm not sure if it was taken right when we exited, or after we ran up the hill. The 1:55 transition seems a bit fast, but I KNOW my timing is accurate for the bike/T2/run cause I used my Garmin 305 for those. So, the swim may have been slightly faster, and T1 slightly slower, depending on where they took the split time.

The usual train more to get faster, I suppose. I also should have paid attention to my goggles in training, I know they've been leaking a little bit, and fogging more the last few swim sessions in the pool. They are a good year old, I think I need new ones. Very happy with the swim though!

I did a run/walk combo up the hill and through transition while stripping off the top of my wetsuit. At my rack, I quickly stripped the wetsuit (a little stuck on one heel, nothing bad), put on my helmet, then socks and bike shoes. I'm using shoes with a buckle so they take an extra second, but for the longer ride today I wanted my most comfy pair (I also have an older velcro only pair I used last month in the sprint that work OK without socks, but they squish my toes a bit) After shoes, I put on my Garmin 305, grabbed the bike and ran to the exit. I did a flying mount and was off!

I think I was pretty efficient. I suppose I could run more/faster up the hill into transition, and bike shoes I could wear sockless would be nice, but it was a clean transition.

I was on the ONLY mountain bike in the entire race (that I saw anyway, it's possible there was another one or two I miseed). Just like last month in the sprint, I did not pass a single other bike, and was freight trained by other folks all day long. Sort of annoying, but I just kept my pace where I needed to, and rode. It was a good ride for me, averaged 17.7 mph heading out, and finished with a 17.3 average so just a little slower coming back. It's a little more uphill back too, so effort wise I think I was good. I had a bottle with 4 scoops of HEED, and a bottle of water. I finished the HEED, and most of the water by the end. It was already pretty hot out and I was really sweating. Good flying dismount into transition.

Get a road bike.

I ran with the bike to my spot, and racked it easily. The person next to me was not back yet, so there was planty of room to work. Helmet off, shoes/socks off, shoes on (I know, I'm kinda backwards in that I biked in socks then ran sockless, but I'm very comfortable running sockless in my Zoot's), grab my hat (with my racebelt in it) and GO!! I saw my daughter as I ran out, gave her a quick high-5, and got going!

nothing.

I felt fine coming out of transition, grabbed a gel packet and cup of water from the aid station just outside of transition, and ate the gel/drank the water in the next few hundred yards or so. First mile was awesome, I hit mile one in 8:57, passed a few folks, and was feeling great. Mile 2 was a little hillier, but still feeling good. Poured water in my hat at the aid stations. Mile three was good too, ran for a bit on the road, down the hill and back up, then back to the dirt. Still passing the occaional runner here, and still getting passed by a few. Mile 4 started feeling laborious. My HR was good, my legs were just tired. No pep, I really had to focus on turnover and lifting my knees, especially on the uphills.

Mile 5 hurt. Back on the main fireroad, out in the blazing sun and dust, I'd pretty much reached my physical limit. I could see the final aid station (1 mile out from the finish) at the top of the next hill, and just kept chugging along. As I passed the final aid station they were asking me if I wated water or gatoraid. I couln't even answer. I didn't want anything. Just kept going.

One mile to go. I just kept telling myself, "I can do anything for one mile." It was a long mile, I was still pushing as hard as I could, my HR was still over 160 but under 165 (my LTHR), my legs were just pretty done. It was great to see my family cheering me on into the final chute, and funny to have a bunch of random people shouting out my name and cheering me on. Apparantly my girls had made a few freinds and everyone was cheering on everyone elses daddy's and mommy's. Pretty cool stuff. I tried to sprint to the finish, but there was no sprint left.

Mile 1: 8:57, 159bpm
Mile 2: 8:56, 160bpm
Mile 3: 8:57, 161bpm
Mile 4: 9:44, 162bpm
Mile 5: 10:05, 161bpm
Mile 6: 10:26, 163bpm

My goal was to keep my HR between 160 and 165 (my LTHR being ~165) and I did that. I think just overall fitness level. Pretty happy with the run though, I ran my best and hung in there mentally.

It's a bit of a fog in my mind, but after crossing the finish I found a piece of shade and sat down. My daughter brought me some water, and I just sat for a few minutes. I figured I'd better move around a bit or else I'd lock up, so I stood up and was pretty dizzy. I walked around, drank some water/sport drink, and eventually ate some watermellon and oranges. The dizzyness was gone pretty quick, I just kept moving around and pretty much felt OK after about 5 minutes. The girls all went swimming while I broke down camp and got ready for the 2 hour drive home. Good day!


I exceeded my expectations, hitting sub 3 hours. I'm very happy with my overall effort.


This is my 4th tri with tbfracing.com and they continue to be awesome. Organized, on time, great support/volunteers, just a fun time.