Nautica South Beach Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

This would be my second swim in the ocean after a 30 minute practice swim earlier in the week. Wasn't very acclimated to the waves and the real saltiness of the water. Usually I can swim faster than this but I wasn't very well prepared for not only the running dive in start but also the sheer chaos it can be. I think I lost a lot of time in the run in as some people were diving, others were running and jumping. Craziness to the first buoy. Also lost my roadid somehow while swimming.

Definitely need to work on:
-ocean swimming if I am doing anymore of them in the future
-Especially like start/finish/and acclimation to the waviness. It wasn't very wavy like a few days ago when I practiced but even little waves can make you off kilter.
-The salt left a bad after taste and the up and down off the ocean made me a lil nauseated. I dont swallow water but sometimes if it gets in your mouth while your breathing or a wave hits on ya you get a bad after taste. Took 2 clif shotbloks in transition to get rid of the taste. I think I will stick to lakes, j/k.
-practice in wetsuit for future races.

More practice OWS and swim more often. I know this is one of the areas I have been letting go and only doing once and sometimes twice a week because I felt more comfortable with it but it didn't show this time around. Definitely more pool time.

Once done took 2 shotbloks to get rid of the taste in my mouth, put on gear and ran to bike start. Long transition area to run through.

Try running start or having shoes on bike instead of stopping, clip in, and then taking off.

This being only my like first week riding outside since the end of last season I was unsure what to expect. I got a kk trainer and have been using it pretty religiously all winter long. My previous two races being sprints of 16.4 and 18.7. This time I was happy to see a speed over 20mph. I had two practice rides outside earlier in the week so I got a good feel of the bike handling and also the heat. I dont think the temperature has been above 50 in the northeast in a long time.

I took one gel on the bike halfway through and about 16oz of water.

Get new tires. My rear tire is pretty flat in the middle from the bike trainer.

Ran through transition and racked bike. Slipped on shoes and grabbed hat and bib and was off. Long transition area though.

Practice snapping out of the cleats and running without them. The carpeted area was a bit uneven.

Ran well. Just ran the NYC HM 3 weeks ago so I was well prepared. Ran slightly faster than my HM pace of 8:43. It was quite hot out though. Poured lots of water on top of myself. Drank very sips of water.

Run more

Grabbed a cold rag, water, and banana.


Ocean swim.


The course was well marked. Plenty of volunteers. Large buoys. Lots of cones. Many police blocking off intersections. Bottle exchange on the bike though I didn't have a place to put it since my bike only fits a 16oz bottle. Run well coned and marked. Lots of volunteers offering drinks. Good festivities at the end.

Overall good experience for my first olympic. Plan on doing 3 others this year and getting faster at each.