Diamond in the Rough Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

waited at the back for everyone to take off swimming. Stayed to right and outside. Stroke 1,2 and BREATHE, repeat! It worked. Sighted every 6th stroke. Hard time seeing first buoy - just sighted for sailboat and stayed to the left. After rounding first buoy, water got choppier and/or current a little tougher, felt like I wasn't going anywhere. Could not see buoy but drafted off a couple different swimmers until they just got too slow (gave me time to rest a little). After 3rd buoy, it was smooth sailing all the way in to the dock. My goggles were way too tight, especially over my right eye. About half way through, I wanted to rip them off and swim without. My sinus's above my eye bone was about to explode, my head was killing me. As soon as I got to the ladder, I pulled them off and could not open my right eye. It was weird, it was spasming or something, I couldn't see out of it. Just massaged it and walked up the steps, then jogged to transition area. I felt really happy wiht my swim. No panic attacks, just nice steady swim. Passed tons of people, so that felt really good.

I had tightened the goggles because they were leaking, but obviously tightened them TOO much! Maybe start further towards the front?

no wetsuit, so quick change. All went smoothly.

nothing.

ugh! My target was 153-155 HR and 120 Watts. My heart rate was 165 coming out of the swim, so had to let it slow down. Had a real hard time trying to maintain 120 watts - don't know why. Thought I did okay on the hills, always 120 watts and much more on the hills. About half way, my stomach starting growling. How could this be? I realized I started with a calorie deficit (no carb drink and no banana, nor a bagel before the race) - but thought I'd make it up on the bike. Although I was drinking consistently, I made the mistake of making two 24 oz bottles and the mixture was too diluted - I could not drink that much liquid in less than 2 hours (plus having to drink water). I should have made 1 bottle of nutrition and 2 bottles of water. I had a gel in my bento bag, so ate that around mile 19 (just before the big hill). Did good on the big hill - although 2 or 3 people passed me. My heart rate averaged 156 and my normalized power was 108 watts (pathetic......)

Get my nutrition right. Could have done better, if I wasn't hungry.

somehow my stuff was all shuffled and spread out - my shoes were in 2 different places, my visor was missing (found it in someone else's stack of stuff) - managed to find everything and get going.

nothing.

reminded myself to start off easy - - was carrying my garmin because it didn't start right away - was looking for a signal (need to figure out how to fix this, this is the 2nd time that has happened during a race). carried my gatorade and sipped it periodically. Again, my heart rate was a little high, so jogged slowly to bring it down. My breathing was pretty labored in the beginning. Leveled out later on. Passed a bunch of folks on the run. Walked each water station and drank my gatorade. Used the water to pour over my head and chest. This was a little harder than I expected, don't know why, just seemed tougher for some reason. Maybe the heat?? Ate half a gel at 4 mile mark, probably should have had it earlier. Also, note to self -- take 1 gatorade and 1 water bottle on fuel belt. Average HR 160.

maybe I should have walked sooner and longer to keep heart rate down?

Stand in the hose and get cooled off, sit on the park bench. Check results and get a sandwhich.


nutrition and tight goggles.


I was pretty disappointed when I finally could see the time clock and realized I was a full 5 minutes slower than I hoped to be. The bike is my real limiter and I just don't know how to fix it. In fact, I felt pretty good all day about the race in general. My swim felt real good, the bike felt good, but just wasn't as good as I had hoped (there seemed to be more wind) and I messed up my nutrition. The run was okay and I thought I had done better than last year (I didn't). After seeing the results online, the wind has gone completely out of my sails. I'm last in my age group! And by 30 minutes - not even close to anyone else! I'm good at transitions though. I came in 4th and 3rd in my age group for transitions (gotta find that silver lining somewhere.....). Also, I think this was the hottest weather (and it wasn't THAT hot) that I've ever raced in. New experience for me (always rain and/or cold, overcast). Oh well, feeling deflated....