Buffalo Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

1:31/100y is crazy fast compared to my other races, so I'm really pleased with how the swim went. I even managed to crack the top 10 in my AG for that discipline without feeling too gassed for the bike.

Improved sighting would shave off another minute, maybe two. But in the end, I just need to train more. I sense more tempo workouts in my future.

I haven't practiced transitions in a while and it showed today. For my next races, I'll have to work on flying mounts and stripping the suit faster.

Plan and practice transitions ahead of time and not just 'in my head' on the way out to the race

It was a fast course. There was very little wind and only two uphills worth mentioning. The first lap was somewhat crowded as the olympic riders were mixed in with the sprinters. For the most part, the slower riders kept to the right, but there were a few times that folks just didn't 'get' that they should move over. I don't think it slowed me down at all though. I kept trying to do the math in my head and figured that I was pretty close to a 20mph average after 1 lap. I tried to keep the same pace for the 2nd lap and prayed that I'd still have enough left in me for a decent run. My nutrition worked out pretty well. The little raspberry chews from the bulk candy aisle are a lot easier to stomach than shot bloks or Gu. I finished out the bike with a 20.1mph so I was pretty psyched.

The race execution went about as well as can be expected. Hopefully, for future races I'll have dropped another 5-10 pounds, and gained some more bike fitness, so that'll speed me up. I'm glad I started saving for a dedicated tri bike. If one of those can add another 1-2mph onto my speed, the next time around should be a heckuva lot of fun.

Big brain fart coming into T2. I waited waaaaay to long to take my feet out of my shoes. I got my right foot, but not my left. I ended up unclipping my left, taking the shoe off and running with it down to transition. I also fiddled with my socks way too long. Maybe it's time to start racing without them.

Get my head out of my fanny for the last .5 miles, then learn to run sock-less.

I am not a fast runner. My goal was to keep my splits under 9:00/per mile. I had a little stiffness in my lower abs coming off the bike, but they seemed to loosen up fairly quickly. For the first couple of miles, my splits were in the 8:50 range. So far, so good. That long uphill was more of a beast than I was expecting, so mile 3 clocked in at 9:23. The good news was that I got to run down the hill and enjoy a 4th mile in the 8:30s. They had water and gatorade on the course. Most of the time, I just took a few sips of water and dumped the rest on my head. My legs started to feel a little looser during the last 2 miles, so I was able to catch a few people. In the last 50 yards, I saw someone from my age group and was able to grunt it out just enough to nip him at the finish.

In hindsight, I could have pushed myself just a bit harder during the middle portion of the course. But, I suppose I could say that about almost any race that didn't put me in the hospital.

Yeah. Um. None? I got some water and cooled off in the shade.


My times are going in the right direction. The best I can do now is continue to train and drop a bit more weight.


I heard bad things about the crowds going into this race. Were there a lot of people? Heck yeah. Did it slow me down? I don't think so. Overall, it was a good alternative for an early-season race.