Heart of the lakes Triathlon - TriathlonLong Course

The first 200 yards were a washing machine and I got slapped around because I start to close to the back. Stayed pretty close to the buoys for most of it and then felt good. But my 100 split was much slower than usual. Why? Hard to say since I felt good. But looking at friends' splits, most seemed slower too.

Go to the front. I am a stronger swimmer than I think. I end up getting slowed up by people who are slower. I should stay to the side but be in front.

Had to pee! Figured it was better to do it then rather than be uncomfortable on the bike. The I had a hard time getting going on the bike. COmputer wasn't working again and tried to kicj it into place but didn't work. Then thought I'd try putting on glovess while on bike. Ridiculous to even bother. I rode without and was fine (thought I might need the material to wipe sweat with.)

Practice. Bag gloves from now on. If computer doesn't work, screw it.

No computer, so no sense of how it was going. Just biked as hard as I could because I knew I'd probably have a hard time on the run no matter what. Parts of the course went into a headwind and coupled with the humidity it felt really hard there. Sweated a ridiculous amount. Ate half a GU within first mile, but could barely choke it down and could feel it in my gut.

It would be nice for the computer to work! This is the second race failure. Would I have pushed it harder if I knew I was so close to 20 mph? If I could that would be motivating. Otherwise, the slow start might have also hurt my overall. But still as good as Buffalo.

Transitions were comedy of errors. Handed a bunch of crap from my back pocket to Ross 20 yards in,--old GU, gloves. And then I dropped my number belt. and I'm slow in trans anyway. Wanted to run with Ipod for musical support but realized I'd short it out bc I'd need to dump so much water on myself.

I did my best, but this sucked. Under normal conditions, I would have been 5-7 minutes faster. I walked a lot, not because of my quads or hips but because of the oppressive heat. Walked the water stations and some hills. Did I need to walk as much as I did? Maybe, maybe not. But I wanted to finish and thought that it was probably more likely if I walked some. At several points, I started to get chills--symptom of early heat exhaustion. Barfed at the end, but nothing in there. Lovely. I worked hard and I can be proud of that.

I should have taken the Heed at some water stations. Darryl said it made a difference for him and Pam didn't do it and felt poorly. With so much fluid loss and excessive sweating, it could've helped. But I was more concerned with my gut.

Not much. A little stretching. Felt crappy, head-achy, and heavy with so much humidity.


Heat index in the 100s. Humidity. I was well-trained and tapered well too. It was the longest distance tri I have done, so it would be challenging anyway.
The more tris I do, the less anxious I get. Even with the weather, I kept my mental cool and rolled with it.


Well organized. Loads of water stations, with ice, sponges, water and heed. They added a bunch of them hearing about the forecast and it was much appreciated. There had to be about 6 of them and I got a bottle of water from a golf cart driving around the course too. I will definitely do this again. And I should do better next time since this was bizarre weather.