Square Lake Long Course Triathlon - TriathlonLong Course

so the swim course was obviously short. I was in the second wave. since the first guy was 3 minutes and 10 seconds ahead of me, i am guessing he started in the first wave, when the timing system had him start in the second wave. I still would have been second out of the water, but 3 minutes faster just seems a little extraordinary.

I still need to get more than a couple thousand yard in per week of swimming. Not for speed, but for ease of effort. I will continue to swim once or twice a week, i just need to actually get a workout in not just an easy warm up of a 1000 yards. if i take the time to go to the pool, then i might as well put in a real workout of 3k-4k.

I am very surprised by how fast this transition was. I felt like i was on the steps forever. That and my garmin has me taking 2:18 to get from the water to my bike.... so i dont know where the timing mats were


I need to do more "running" after getting out of the water.

so i was feeling good out of the swim. I thought i could really push it and hang on, just like i do in the Olympic distances. Boy was i wrong. the first lap i averaged 21 MPH. I thought i am tired, but doing better than expected. I was way ahead of my goal time. then the second lap i averaged under 19 MPH. And i felt like crap toward the end. I drank both water bottle of my gu/powerade/water mix. I grabbed a water bottle at bottle exchange( unfortunately it was a regular bottle of water with a cap) In hindsight i should have also grabbed a bottle of heed. I was getting passed by so many people. I am used to getting paced by people, but this felt like so many more than usual.

If i ever do this distance again. I need to do more miles. My longest ride was 70 miles. I only rode more than 50 miles at a time approximately 5 times. I way overestimated my fitness level for this distance. I talked with a guy that finished at my goal time (who kept yelling at me: "lets go swimmer" every time he passed me or crossed my path on the bike and run) He told me how easy he took the first lap then picked it up a little, but saved it all for the run. SO that is what i will do, IF i do this distance again.

I am also surprised how quick this transition was. I sat down, to put socks on (i usually dont wear socks in shorter distances) then when i was putting socks and shoes on my quads were starting to cramp so i kind of stretched and pounded on then to keep them from cramping more.

drink and eat more and go slower so my quads are not just wiped out when i get off the bike

Now this is where the whole HIM (close enough, i know it is 2 miles short on the bike) experience get real interesting, and very educational for me.

I got out of transition a little under 3:10.00 and figured i could still salvage the race and try to finish around 5 hours and 10 minutes. I was not expecting to be able to run at all. So i went out totally easy. To my surprise my garmin told me i was running 8:45. I thought to myself "ok i am going easy, i can do this" the second mile same pace. the third mile i tried to work on keeping good form and high cadence. Big mistake! That mile was 8:25. That is when my right shoulder seized up. Not the front or inside, like i was having a heart attack, but I could barely hold it up and i definitely could not lift it sideways or up from the shoulder at all. I learned this when i tried to lift a cup of water to my mouth. One top of that i started to feel "cold" from the slight breeze. I knew then this was not going to be a "fun" experience. After this i walked through what i thought was every water station. I say thought, because on my garmin download after, i clearly did not slow down in a couple more of them but i dont remember running through any of them. (water stations were every mile) The rest of the race i just wanted to "not walk", except the water stations. I kept pace with one other person who proclaimed he was over-heating. he would run faster than me, but he would walk a lot more than me, so we kept passing each other until mile 11.

My state of mind was: that if i walked more than the water stations then i would not motivate myself to start running (or shuffling) again. the rest of the run, i alternated with having my arm in normal run position/ hanging loosed / tucked into my tri suit like a sling. I am guessing i need to re-evaluate my aero position on the bike. when i am pushing hard i flex my shoulders and back. I can ride relaxed, but i just hunch my back unless i think of reminding myself to relax my back. so my run got slower and slower. I took in more and more water and dumped water on me at every station. I knew i was dehydrated and overheating.

The last water station (1 mile to go) I stopped and told them i was not doing well. they dumped a lot of cold water on me that felt so good and it helped a lot. they wanted me to sit down, but i thought my legs would just cramp up if i sat. so i took in more water and moved on. The last mile hurt the most. the last big hill pushed me to the edge so i half way up i walked the rest of the hill. I felt the puking coming and i did not want that to happen, so i walked until i felt better. Seeing the turn back from transition to the finish was a little disheartening. That meant there was a very small very steep up and then down right before the finish. I just wanted to hop the fence and cross the finish, but i didnt. The last little down hill i just let gravity to all the work, so my body looked a lot worse then it actually was. Jenny told me that i looked like a limp noodle, and it scared her.

Beside be in better shape for the distance: I would take in more nutrition and water on the bike, so i dont start out in deficit. then i would learn an easier more appropriate pace and start with that and just stick to it. even if started at 9:30 and stayed with it per mile i would have saved 11 minutes over all.

I put ice in my tri suit. drank a couple of bottles of water, then i chugged a muscle milk. I hate that stuff, but it was cold and i needed some sugar.

then i paced around the beach and waded into the water. I kept moving, and once the nausea settle down i ate a hot dog and more water.


Fitness: I underestimated how taxing a close to 5 hour race is. nutrition: need more calories and water on the bike. pacing: need to start possibly all 3 legs easier and then build up.

I went into the race with a goal of 4:50. in my mind i would be happy with anything under 5 hours. If i did not make so many fatal mistakes, then i still think 5 hours was achievable. I now have motivation for the winter.


i really liked the social atmosphere of the longer distance race. The swim was short. Not a big deal, everyone races the same course. If i race this distance again, then i would do this race again. Any negatives i have toward the race are self inflicted and the usual lack of organization of a randy race, which i really dont have any problems with that.