Elephant Man Triathlon Long Course - TriathlonLong Course

I made a very last minute decision to wear the wetsuit. I wasn't going to right up until the time I left transition to go warmup and then I decided to grab the suit. I wasn't sure if it would be too hot or not. Turns out it was a cool morning so despite the hot water the swim was not too hot.

My swim continues to suck. I do think a lot of this one was my horrible sightening skills though. I swam a lot extra. And I had to correct so badly in some cases it really just never get me into a flow. There was one dude swimming near me that I easily was passing when I was in my flow and then I'd mess up and have to correct and he'd get next to me again.

Oh, and I think I really hate wetsuit swimming.

Um, swim a direct line. And probably more time in the pool would help a lot. I can swim the distance but I need to work on improving.

They had wetsuit strippers and those guys had the suit off in no time. I was expecting my T1 time to be quite a bit longer as it involved a rather long run up a hill which I am sure is in the T1 time and not the swim time. They had someone there with a hose to clean your feet off which was totally needed.

nothing really.

The bike course is hilly, no doubt about it. But all in all doable. If you didn't train on hills though this course was going to beat you easily. The first 15 miles are mostly rolling hills with one longer steeper one thrown in for good measure. Then you can let loose for about 5 miles and get speed. But then that ends and we leave the Oly course and head out for our 15 mile out (and back), which was into the wind, mostly a gradual uphill (with some major climbs thrown in for good measure). It's the only spot I wish I had aero bars and race wheels.

Not much, I trained on hills and I think I handled the big ones fine. I would have loved to have been at a lighter weight so that the minor ones were easier but well, it is what it is.

#W%$#$%#%@!@ I was pretty pissed to get into T2 to find someone racked in my spot. It wasn't like we could just grab another spot. I asked some guy from the oly who was done to grab a race official. He started to do so and then realized it was his bike in my spot. Grrr. Other then that it went ok. As I left T2 I headed to the bathroom for my one and only bathroom stop. That time is on my run though.

Kill the little prick that racked in my spot?!?!? Not allowed? Ok, then nothing.

Well, not quite the run I was expecting. Not the course I was expecting. Way more hills then I thought. I would have totally trained different had I had a better idea of this run. That being said, I did have a better run then my last long course. Although it was slower that is due to the course more then me. I held it together and kept running. I started to walk on a long uphill and this lady came running past me. That kind of motivated me to keep running again. So from then on out I kept a pretty steady pace. We went back and forth a few times but in the end I was able to pull away from this person. I knew there were two people pretty close behind me near the end and so I just used that as motivation to keep on trucking.

The run course was interesting, with lots of dirt, hills, and weird sections in it. For example, at one spot we had to run around a building on the golf course and then later an out and back in a neighborhood. Clearly trying to get the miles in but it made for an interesting run

The heat did get to me on this run even though I have run in the heat a lot. Not normally when the sun is fully out though. I think for my next HIM I will get more runs in while the sun is fully out and not just stick to morning runs

I was pretty spent at the end of this race. It took a lot of out me. I couldn't really eat, not even cookies. WHAT? I took a bite or two and handed it to Tina.


Lack of swim training. I need more intensity on the bike as well. And more hills on the run. But, I was trained. It would have been a much longer day if I hadn't trained as hard as I did. I clearly train for having a good race and not for a podium spot as I am not that fast and don't want to put the time in to get fast. But I do want a steady race. Losing some weight will help as well


This is the first year for the long course and I think they did ok but could do with some changes. I was VERY disappointed to find that the transition area was torn down already and no one was watching my bike. They hadn't even finished the Oly awards yet, let alone starting on the lc and they already had transition torn down? Really? Then stand there and guard my bike please.

Food was not what I was wanting after such a long day on the bike. I could have used something lighter to eat, like a small piece of bagel or something. They had sandwiches and cookies. I heard a rumour there was fruit but they were out when I got there. From what Tina said a lot of spectators where chowing down. Either they need to control that or have extra out for when the bottom of the pack finishes the lc.

The volunteers were AMAZING. They had nearly as many volunteers as they did racers (both oly and lc combined). They cheered loudly, were super friendly, and were generally a pleasant group. There was no lack of aid stations in this race. Every 10 miles on the bike for the lc and about every mile on the run. At mile 8 they started with the coke. Loved that.

Although they did not start on time, for either the race nor the mandatory meeting the day before they were not horribly off schedule.