East Fork Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Right from the word go, I hurt myself! Stubbed my right big toe on the timing mat running into the water and actually thought I broke it. I hit the water limping and started swimming, and after about half the first lap, the stabbing pain went away. Trying out my new speed suit I got for the IM, and it worked fine. I felt compact and snug, but there was no noticeable advantage with it that made me faster. In fact, my time was 2 minutes slower than last year. Hmmm. I felt fairly smooth, but was not the best on navigating. I'm not MR. SPEEDY in the water, which is proven by my 69th place overall. I need to push this harder.

Not really sure. I wore the speed suit to test it for IM, but the wet suit may have been the difference. No big deal.

Felt pretty good here. Went smoothly. Only 3 seconds slower than last year. No big deal. I don't see where I'm loosing any time here, except I put on socks, which I need and it probably is the most time consuming thing I do.

Nothing really

Good ride. Took over 3 minutes off last years time, so that's nice. I pushed it a bit for most of the ride and was fairly aggressive. I'm still no speed demon on the hills, but I don't suck either. For much of the ride, I was passing a lot of people from the waves that went off before mine, and only twice did I see and pass people I started with, so I was beginning to think I could possibly be the leader. Ahhhh, fleeting thoughts of greatness. Everytime I would see someone in front of me, I made it my mission to catch and pass. I never was passed on the bike, and for me, that was awesome.The last 3 or 4 miles, I hooked up with a guy I passed. We kept passing each other every couple of minutes, so that pushed us both to the end, which probably gave me my better time. Nice to have someone to push you along. In the end, I beat him to transition by a few seconds.

Nothing.

WOW, that was fast. Nothing to do but throw off helmet, change shoes and run out. I put my race belt and hat on while I ran. Did this one 18 seconds faster than last year, so I'm learning.

Nothing, I had the fastest T2 time of my AG. Zoom!

This felt effortless. Even the hill at the beginning felt fine. I ran out of transition while putting my hat and belt on, did the loop near the lake, then up the hill, which many were walking up. I hit the flats, let my legs drain the lactic acid, and a few seconds later, pushed into gear. My plan was to chill the first mile to get my legs back, then start pushing it. The plan worked fine. During the run, it occurred to me that I "felt" overtrained for this race, and that made me feel great, cause THAT is what I came here to feel. I wanted to know everything was on track for the IM, and this run was confirming it. I was putting in some 6:30s minute miles in the middle, and after that bike ride, I could feel nothing but elation. Before the race was even over, I felt "mission accomplished". I finished the first loop and saw Mary and the kids. They were yelling for me, and that's the juice I always look for and to get me to the finish. Up the hill I went again, hit the flats and with a mile to go I opened it up. By the end, I ended up taking about 40 seconds off per mile, for about 4 minutes off last year. Perfect. I'm ready.

Nothing.

Hung out with family, drank water, met friends, congratulated Larry for beating me...bastard! :). Ate some snacks.


The only thing that "may" have helped was the wet suit, but I was using the speed suit specifically for today for a purpose, and it all worked out fine.


I had more friends show up at this race than ever before. It was great seeing everyone and cheering for each other. Met some "new" friends as well. Mary and I used to do several of these every year, and I can see why I miss it. Still, I wonder if the IM training is what it takes to raise me to this level, or if I could train JUST for short races and still do as good. I think next year I'll find out. I'm hoping to have more training time, as I retire in 30 days. We'll see what 2011 brings.