Memphis in May Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Okay swim. First 700 meters was good. After that, things fell apart a bit. Needed a couple of breaks doing the side stroke. Just can't get into a good rythm after my stroke breaks down a bit. With a little rest, I'm good again for a bit, but not consistent enough. I need to bring my times down and work on my swim endurance. I think I was trying to go too fast after the start, and didn't settle into a good pace, but 1:51 should be right on, especially with a wetsuit. Cramped in the calves at about 1000 meters. Did again at about 1200 meters. Just had to watch it, nothing too bad. The last 200 meters, took a breath to my left and saw some nice lightening. Figured I better finish up the swim, quickly....It had started to rain a bit at this point (no clearing in sight now). Except for the top 15, the swim times weren't that much different than mine. Ranged from 27-36. I would call this below average for me, but average for the times.

Sight a bit better, not sure I took the most direct lines. Work on swim endurance and settle in to a better rythm/pace. Swim needs improvement...

Decent transition. I was a bit dizzy from the swim for some reason (swim fitness), so I took an extra 15-20 seconds. Got the wetsuit off very timely. The rain had started, so I took my extra pair of dry socks out of my baggy and put those on, then got shoes on, endurlytes in pocket, skull cap on, sunglasses on (glad I traded out the lenses before the race to the lighter lens), helmet on, and off I went. Did good navigating the mud in the bike shoes and out to the mount line.

Not try to put on dry socks, they were wet immediately anyway. Not take any time resting, which will depend on my swim fitness most likely. I probably could have done it in 2:00.

Good ride overall. The first 5-10 miles, there was a headwind, so I was thinking I'm going pretty slow, as I was averaging about 16mph, which seemed a bit low for race pace, even in a headwind. Figured the headwind was a bit more than I anticipated, as I was keeping my 170-175w range. After about 5-8 miles, I looked down at my gearing and I was in the lowest cassette gear. I'm thinking, that can't be right. So I look at my chain ring, and yep, I'm in my small chain ring. (I had checked my gears the day before, and guess I didn't put it back in the large chain ring, oops!!). Dang It!!! So, I changed my gearing and off I went. I probably lost about 1 mph average on the first stretch, maybe 1.5 - 2mph, as I probably could have pushed about 17-18 with the headwind, but my legs got a nice rest. Once I figured this out, I was at about 18-19 on the crosswind section. Then turned back on Hwy 61, and picked up a nice tailwind. I was avg about 22-23mph on the return trip, passed quite a few folks. Got passed by a few, mostly on tri bikes. One guy and I went back and forth, and he was on a road bike too. Good ride overall, avg over 19mph for the entire ride, kept my watts average at 177, which was perfect and right on target.

On another note, it was raining the entire way, with a pretty steady downpour, with the occasional lightening strike. One was about 2 miles away while we were out on the course. One guy pulled up and left the course, but the majority stayed. The lightening wasn't that frequent, so I decided to stay out. You had to be careful on the turns, but other than that, it was pretty much straight and flat, so not much to worry about on the wet roads. They never called the race.

Nutrition: Drank about 40oz of water on the bike, took 20 oz of concentrated Accellerade (180 cal, 540mg Sodium), Endurolyte capsules every 30 min on bike (about 6-8 caps). Overall, probably took in about 1000-1200mg of sodium. Nutrition seemed about right. Had a gel taped to the bike, but didn't use it.

Not start out in the small chain ring on a flat course.

Had a pretty good transition. I was hoping for a little better time, but not too bad. Came in, dismounted (carefully because of the rain) and ran into transition with my bike shoes and thru the mud. Got in, racked bike, helmet off, run shoes on, gel in pocket, grab visor;garmin;race belt, and off.

try to get a bit faster at getting everything off and shoes on, then just leaving transition asap.

Had a good run. The rain and cooler temps from the cloud cover kept it cool. Kept a 9:45 pace pretty much throughout. First 4 miles felt really good, then I tried to pick it up a bit. Of course, the mile marker at 4, my garmin said 4.25. I was thinking they may have the course marked a bit off, maybe for encouragement the last 2 miles (maybe they were a bit shorter marked). Mile 4 was okay and kept a good pace, pulled away from some folks I was with. Mile 5 I picked it up a bit more and by the end I was tanked. At mile marker 5, my watch said 5.26 or so, so I was thinking this would be a shorter mile. NOPE!!! It was a good 1.25 miles to the finish. My garmin said 6.73 at the finish, so it was a good 1/2 mile longer than 6.2. I was not off course anywhere. It's funny it was off, because part of it was an out and back. I kept thinking mile 4 was taking forever. The last mile, I was keeping a good pace, one foot in front of the other. By 400 meters to go, I was about out of gas. I thought about walking numerous times, but kept my feet moving and had a little kick in about the last 50 - 100 yards. There wasn't much left after that....Finished strong. My legs were about to cramp, but never did cramp, so for me, it was probably pretty close to a perfect run. My pace was 9:43 overall for the 6.73 miles.

Nutrition: Took a gel at mile 1, then water and a sip or two of Gaterade at the remainder of the stops. Walked the water stops, and poured any remaining water on my head to cool down a bit. Stayed hydrated, because I had to pee at the end.

Not much. Good paced run, it was comfortable. Probably pushed it a little too early, but I didn't know it was going to be longer than 6.2.

Walked around, had an Ironman Perform (which they were handing out at the finish), stretched out my legs a bit. Used the restroom.


Overall fitness needs to improve. My swim fitness needs to improve, which I think would make the bike/run a little easier on the transitions. My stupidity of being in the small chain ring and not the large chain ring and not noticing it for 5-10 miles.


Good race. Good support. Facilities were pretty nice and family friendly. Course was flat and fast. Wish the rain would of held off. The pre-race and post-race festivities appeared well organized. We didn't stay after the race, as I had to go back to Memphis and pick up the family. They had decided to stay in Memphis on Saturday night with cousins and because of the rain/storms didn't make it back down for the race, so we didn't have time to attend the post race party. Next year maybe.