Scofield Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOther

I did much of the swim (maybe about 1/4 backstroke) The first 200 meters I thought I had this down finally. No panic and I could swim like I normall do in the pool. Then it hit and I came as close as I ever have to asking the boat to haul me up and quit. As embarrassing as it was I just flipped mid stroke and did the back stroke until the panic/breath was OK. I am good at the backstroke so I don't loose much time I don't think but it tires my legs more. I had to do this for much of the swim -- freestyle for a little then flip and do back then flip to freestyle. The last 15 min. I hit my stride and swam great - fast and strong and freestyle. Not sure what it is all about but someday I will have a good swim. However, water was clean and warm (warmer than the air) and it was a great swim course.

Warm up more? though I'm not sure that would help. It is a mental thing for me and there weren't even sharks to worry about.

My transition was OK. It was cold out, really cold so I had to take a bit of time to put my layers for biking on.

Nothing.

While my swim felt awful, my bike was one of my best ever and I was worse overall on the bike than the swim. I guess my swim technique is strong enough that it saves me relative to everyone even when I panic and stop. My bike however needs help. That said the hills I kept up with the people with me but they go so fast down hill I don't keep up. The guy with me hit 50 miles per hour plus down hill. I was going all out and only hit 38. Not sure I would want to go much faster. I like triathlon but death doesn't seem like a good sacrifice. Anyhow, on the flat 9 miles home I was holding 27 mph. I haven't been able to hold a speed like that for more than a minute before. I was so pleased and it felt awesome. I was hoping to was because of my improved bike fitness and new aero bars but then my husband pointed what was probably the reas reason for my new found speed - tail winds. Oh, well. It was a beautiful course and my biking is feeling stronger even though results don't reflect it. Oh, I drank Hammer Perpetuem (I really like the Hammer products) and followed Mike's advice on 250 cals per hour. I made a multi hour bottle and sipped it throughout the ride.

I just need to ride hills at home more and practice on the rollers. I really think the rollers help my biking a lot.
Also, the first 10 miles of the bike ride I was soo cold I was hyper ventilating and my teeth were chattering, body shaking - I thought I was going to crash my bike. Thank goodness the hills warmed me up. I really should do Triathlons only in the desert.

The transition area was on an incline so there weren't many people doing running mounts and putting shoes on/off on the bike. My transition was fine. I know precious seconds can be saved with various techniques but since I am still figuring this all out I am happy with smooth and getting it done fairly well. I did forget my watch for the run - I left it on the bike - so I ran with no info. which was annoying.

Since being cold it my issue, I was great on the run temp-wise now that it was hot. I had a fuel belt with perpetuem that I drank. They also had aid stations every mile with hammer gel, water and gatorade. My calves started out tight but felt better after a mile but, of course, my run in a race can't ever be free some something - my shins were tight and holding me back. I couldn't figure out why until I realized it was probably my backstroke kicking - that is the only thing I could think of since I have never had shin issues before. The only good thing is that although they keept me slower it never felt like I was going to injure myself if I kept going (like when my calves tighten) so I went as strong as I could thinking they would ease up. They did around mile 8. I finished strong and I think I negative split the course. Run could have been faster but it was find.

Figure out how not to have to backstroke! So I don't tire random parts of my legs on the swim.

I have had a head cold and bad deep cough for weeks. The altitude didn't help. The night before the race the altitude stuffed me up and made me feel a lot worse that I had been. My cough was gross and throughout the entire race I was hacking and my nose ran everywhere. That was annoying. But I learn more each race and it will come together some day. Being sick is way better than an injury which I had been worried about prior to some other races.


Beautiful race and very well supported and organized. It was fun to do a race in a completely new area. When I signed up I forgot that Utah was full of mountains and not at sea level but it was great to have a hilly course and the elevation challenge. There was snow on the mountains still at the very tops of them. I learn a lot each time I race and though I always want/wish I had done better it is always fun - even when I can't do the swim well. I would recommend this race if you are in the area.