DQ Triathlon @ Marlton Lakes - TriathlonSprint

Followed the early plan fairly close, focusing on slow swimming, stroking and gliding...guessing I covered about 50 meters this way. Then started focusing on the kick and hip roll. Looked up after about 15 strokes, found the bow of a kayak in my face, one of the lifeguards pointing at me to go back the other way. I'd almost left the course! OK fine, back to it, well away from everybody now. Looked up again at some point, starting to get that winded feeling now, as if I can't get adequate air, I'm almost to the dam side of the course! OK, so I'm zig-zagging all over the place...that explains a lot about my swim times, I probably swam 425-450 meters, crap! Right goggle kept filling with water to the point I couldn't see anything, actually had to walk a couple of times to empty the doggone thing, until I realized I'd not actually tightened the freakin' strap! Great to remember that halfway through the race after not being able to see anything. TSW also says I'm still coming to a near halt when I roll to breathe. So at least I learned something here.

Got the wetsuit top off before I was out of the water except for one sleeve, which got hung up on my Garmin. I yanked and yanked on that thing, finally had to resort to rolling the sleeve back a bit. Probably added some seconds to my time because I was focused on that and not getting into T1.

Really struggling with this. Do I spend the winter working on the swim, even though I hate doing it and it never seems to matter? Or do I go back to the drawing board, get some coaching, and hope the additional effort pays off? Nothing has ever seemed to matter here, so I'm just not sure. I still think my issues are primarily "open water" related (i.e. psychological and not knowing where I'm going).

Really struggled with the bottom half of the wetsuit for some reason. I always have trouble getting it off. Eliminated some steps this race: didn't wear the skully under the helmet and didn't carry the extra tube pouch. Thought that would save a few seconds but it didn't seem to matter.

Practice here, but I expect I'll always be slower until I learn to put feet in pedals while on the bike.

Never really knew how I was doing here since, after I left T1 I hit the pause button on the Garmin instead of the Lap button, meaning I recorded no time at all. In the end I only got about 7 miles recorded. So...I only had gut to go on. Got out pretty quick, only one person in sight for half a mile or so. Picked him off and then started seeing the leaders coming back the other way. Eventually started catching up to the pack. I was certainly blowing past those I passed, but a lot of them were riding comfort bikes or mountain bikes, so that doesn't mean anything. Felt pretty good overall, so time was sort of a surprise; thought it'd be faster because the ride was over before I realized it. I saw the people waving us back into the neighborhood and thought, "Are you kidding me, I'm almost done?" I mean, this ride went by fast! Highlight was reaching for my Gu flask about ten minutes from finish - I'd stowed it in the Bento Box on the stem - and the velcro catching something on the Box and, whoops! There she goes, bye-bye Gu!

Average ride; I don't know what else I can do. This seems to be my speed, which is frustrating. Really would like to get a power meter so I have a better idea on pacing, strengths, weaknesses, etc.

I thought I smoked this one so I was surprised by the time; thought I'd be right around a minute since I didn't waste any time doing anything.

Practice? Thought I got through this pretty quick, so I don't know.

Garmin recorded a longer course distance and, therefore, a faster pace, around 9:55, which felt right for the overall effort level. Walked through the water stops plus a couple of other breaks that I kept at around 30-40 seconds each. Had the gas to step it up nicely at about 2.75. Seeing my time there I figured breaking 31 would be no problem so, again, was surprised by the final time until I realized what my Garmin recorded.

Only thing to do here is push a little harder pace-wise. And, of course, train to be able do do that.

Walked around a bit, nothing more. Was pretty tired right at the end because I pushed the last quarter mile or so, but I recovered quickly.


Poor navigation skills in the water combined with my inherent slowness can make for a lousy start. Made worse by forgetting to tighten up my goggles and only remembering to do that halfway through.


Fifth year in a row doing this event. A fun, popular race with a good, enthusiastic crowd. I like doing this event because of that, because it's a long weekend and we can go to Oxford afterwards. But it's gotten to the point that I can just show up and do this, almost without even thinking about it. Starting to think I need a "new" event. Maybe next year I'll do their Medford Lakes Tri the weekend before.