Peachtree International Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Lake was dirty and hard to see more than 2 inches in front of my face. Had some trouble spotting the first buoy in the distance and keeping a good line. Stopped too many times to sight the first buoy. Once I got around the first buoy, it was smooth sailing.

Find a steady pace and stick to it better. Try drafting more.

Transition ranked 6th in my AG. Was happy with it.

Do a better job of jumping on bike and pedaling at same time with feet on top of shoes.

MADE A WRONG TURN!
I was ready to hammer it. The course wasn’t very hilly, so I figured I could average about 22mph and would be done in under 1:10. Then, I would throw down a sub-43 10k (at the worst) and would be done in under 2:30 (at the worst). Then it happened. About 3 miles into the bike route, there was a sharp right turn with a bunch of different signs and a girl yelling instructions. (What did she say? I was going so fast, I couldn’t hear her.) In truth, I didn’t give much of an effort to listen to her.

After I make the right turn, the majority of riders around me make a quick left. The signs — with BIG red letters – said something about “COURSE LEFT” with a big red arrow pointing to the left. There were other less-visible signs scribbled in marker that were harder to read, but I just decided to follow the crowd.

As it turns out, the girl was yelling “sprint go left, olympic go straight!” And those other less-visible signs…? They said “Olympic course straight.” I didn’t realize this until I started flying past packs of people on mountain bikes. Soon, I also noticed I was headed back towards the start area and saw a sign that said “Mile 22″. I rode up to the nearest rider and asked her: “Are you doing the sprint?” When she said “yes”, I knew I screwed up. To be sure, I asked another girl… same answer. At that moment, I used some language that was not very sportsmanlike and whipped my bike around in the middle of the road and headed back the other way.

I did some quick math and realized I had just added an extra 3 miles to my bike route. At the speed I was going, that equaled about 9-10 minutes. Son of a #&^%$!!!

If you subtract that 10 minutes, I would have had the fastest bike split in the 40-44 AG. Nobody to blame but myself.

Familiarize myself with the course map before the race. Listen better. Read better.

Didn't start my dismount soon enough and fumbled with getting my feet out of the shoes at the dismount line.

Get feet out of my shoes sooner

Started a bit slow. Got my legs under me at Mile 2. Picked up the pace at Mile 3. Passed dozens of runner on my way in.

Run faster over the closing 2 miles. I wasn't hurting enough at the end. Didn't feel that I really gave it everything I had.

Hung out to see where I finished. Once I saw that I was 17th and not in the Top 3 where I would have been had I not made a wrong turn, I grabbed a couple slices of pizza, tried to put on a happy face, and went home.


My sense of direction


This was my first time doing Peachtree. I thought it was really well done. The lake swim was kind of nasty, but the bike was nice and rolling. Strong bikers can really take advantage of the course. The run along the shaded, golf cart paths was awesome, especially if it's a hot day.