Pinehurst Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Considering my reconstructive surgery on my right shoulder, facial reconstruction, 4 complete x septorhinoplasty with 3 x renovations, and C5/6 disc replacement... I didn't do to badly! I considered stopping shortly after I began, but then fought through that because I was going to finish this race regardless of time, for me.

Swim, swim, and swim more.. Did I mention swim? I need to work on technique and see if I can overcome this shoulder issue.While the breast stroke worked, freestyle would obviously increase my speed and lower my time.

I just took my sweet time in T1. Need to work on not messing around! 1 x heel got stuck in suit and I couldn't stand to change shoes so I sat. Also, I didn't swim with my biking shorts because I wanted dry ones for the ride. Ensured that I got my feet dry and all of the sand off so I didn't suffer later. I thought better to take a little time than to endure the pain later. Gloves took longer than expected. After I got my helmet on, I headed out of the bike exit. Initially it was cold, but warmed up quickly due to exertion on bike.

Practice T1. Emphasize more importance to getting out of transition area more quickly. No time to celebrate the swim being over! Ride with wet biking shorts to see how different it is, aside from being colder.

Hilly. Long hills that nearly killed at times but down hills made it very bearable.Tough course but not a killer. Lots of hills. One section of rough road and a bridge crossing that I thought I broke spokes and bent my rims on! Lost my water bottle from its rear keep on impact. Also stopped and used restroom when my Gu bottle fell off the bike...

Work more on hills. I rode 30 miles at 1:38 previously in Pinehurst the weekend prior. I need to work hills ICW running bricks. The hills I work here around the house are not hills in comparison! Need to find some for next year.

Need to work Transition times. Again, add more urgency. Shoe replacement went well. Again, I sat to steady myself after the bike. No problem finding my transition position. Grabbed my visor and couldn't find the run exit. Embarassing! I might as well have yelled, "New guy here, little help please!!"

Locate the run exit next time. I wasted a good 15 seconds locating the run departure point! Practice running dismount from bike. Practice T2 transition in order to cut time.

Twisted my right ankle during first 1/4 mile. Had to run on it for the remainder. Wound up walking part of some hills due to pain. However, continued to run slow. This would have been a very enjoyable run had I not sprained my ankle, even with the hills. It was a challenge after riding but I enjoyed it.

Definitely need to work on runs so that I can bring the time down following a bike. I'm sure I'd have been better had I not sprained the ankle. Most definitely would have brought me under the 4 hour mark. Bike/run bricks. I think I did well considering the ankle.

Found my family. There were overjoyed that I didn't die. I found out the wife had been worried because they began the awards ceremony at noon and I didn't come in for another 30 minutes or so due to my start time. She thought I was in on the side of the road somewhere!! Anyway, I walked and stretched a bit. Drank two bottles of water and ate a banana and then we headed home.


Training. I should have trained harder. The shoulder surgery didn't effect me as much as I thought it would. The disc replacement came back to mess with me after going aero quite a bit on the bike and then running. Of course, the sprained ankle didn't help much on the run. But, those are just excuses. I needed to actually train harder rather than HA the way I did.


I will return next year and do much better. I snuffed my training the last two weeks and should not have. While I thought the swim would be 1:30 it was only :46 which was pretty good all things considered! The bike was a disappointment even though I was riding, I thought, well. Finally the run, well what can I say. The run is really what pulled me 6 minutes over, although my I accomplished my goal of completing my first Olympic Triathlon. I need to be honest and train much more. I really slacked off during my entire training period. Not bad for a Retired 90% Disabled Vet who underwent nine major surgeries last year, including disc replacement, shoulder reconstruction, and major face reconstruction! The $6 Man survived, to do it all over again!