Columbia Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Stink, stank, stunk. I could not have imagined a worse swim. I don't know if I was disarmed by the chilly water, the fact that it was my first open water swim of the year, or I just couldn't get used to not seeing anything below the surface after staring at a nice blue line all winter. For the first 2-300 yds I just couldn't bring myself to put my head down and swim. It was weird. I kept telling myself to just swim, even if its slow, just concentrate on your form. Instead I kept popping my head up and swimming head up or breast stroking. Then I kept asking myself, "What the hell are you going to do during Eagleman?" It was embarassing. Finally I reached the first turn, and my goggles were fogged up, so I rolled onto my back and wiped the insides of the lenses. For whatever reason this new found clarity settled me down and I was able to swim. I was breathing every stroke for the most part, but I felt like I was making progress. At this point, I was so far in the back of the pack that I was surrounded by "weaker" swimmers and kept running into people as I attempted to pass them. I felt pretty strong over the last half of the swim, and even had some stretches of bilateral breathing. I could finally concentrate on form, but it was still a very disappointing effort.

More open water swim practice. Plain and simple.

Wetsuit stuck a little bit, but not too bad. First race of the season, so I expected a little hesitancy on my part. Not real speedy, but it didn't make or break me.

Well, I need to wear socks on the run and I like wearing socks on the bike, especially running through T2. It costs me some time, but that's the way it goes. I should have practiced wetsuit removal more - like say at the open water swim practices I should have been doing.

After the swim I was kind of out of it mentally. I had a headache and was kicking myself mercilessly. But the show must go on. Training on the Eastern Shore it's tough to get used to the hills. They were non-stop. The funny thing is that I feel like I'm an above average hill climber. I was passing people going up every hill. I'm more than happy to get out of the saddle and grind up a hill. I got into a back and forth with another guy from my age group for quite a few miles - he would pass me going downhill and I would pass him going uphill. A little more than halfway through the ride a strange/bad/funny thing happened. After a particularly steep decent I got to the top of the next grade and thought that my front tire had gotten flat - perhaps not totally, but mushy. So, I stop and check it - hard as a brick. "What are you doing you dumbass?!" The funny part was that I quickly caught back up to Mr. Downhill, and that was the last that I saw of him.
Some of the downhills were quite steep and curvy. The roads were a little on the rough side, and going in and out of shady areas made me a little uneasy on the decents. I know I lost some time by riding on the horns, but coming from the flat lands I'm just not comfortable going more than 40mph with those conditions. One of the times I was going down a steep grade I tried to push a little harder, but met with no resistance from the pedals. "Oh shit, did I slip the chain?" No, you just left it on the 39 ring from the last hill climb - dumbass manuever #3. Overall, pretty pleased with the bike.
Drank half a bottle of Perpetuem w/a gel mixed in (~284 cal).

Train more on hills. The two biggest limiters were timing and fear. I constantly got caught in the wrong gear and found myself appling power during the wrong part of the hill. One time I was actually passing someone on a downhill and the next thing I know I was cresting the top of the next hill at 23mph. "Hey, maybe that's the way its supposed to work." Without practice on extended downhills and having never ridden the course before, I was just unnerved by some of the decents.

It's pretty obvious when you're approaching the TA, so I had ample time to get my feet out of my shoes. The only time waster here was that my bike just fit under the rack in transition, so I had to take the bottles out of my rear holder before I could rack it.

Hang it by the brakes.

I don't remember all the details, but as I recall there may have been a hill or two on the course. The first two miles were exactly what I had expected, although I was pleasantly surpised by my pace. That quickly changed. After leaving the park, the hills got steeper and longer. I managed to pass quite a few people, including a fair number of 35-39's that went off in the previous wave. That made me feel good, because I had no handle on my pace - just short steps on the way up and long strides on the way down.
Took a gel at mile 2 or 3, and drank water at every other aid station.

Perhaps train on hills more, especially longer ones. I do hill repeats as part of my training, but they're much shorter than the hills I encountered here.

Walked around, grabbed a banana, drank some water, headed over to transition and drank my Endurox. I chatted with several racers, including JohnnyKay, who I had seen earlier on the run course. I couldn't find Brenda and the kids, so I walked to the truck to call. Turns out they couldn't make it because B had been up all night with Raider. That was a bummer - wished they could have been there because it was a great venue and a nice, relaxing atmosphere.


My inability to swim and to tell when my tires are flat. And, there are not many hills on the Eastern Shore.


A very challenging race. I felt pretty good to come in at 2:35 (top 21%) considering the way the race started. Also, it was the kind of course that knowing what to expect plays a role in how fast you go - when to push, when to hold back, etc... It made me feel like I left some time on the course. This year I have not sought out hills to train on and have tried to do more aerobic endurance workouts than threshold workouts. I believe I can break 2:30 if I choose to make this race more of a focus of my training.