YMCA Colonial Beach International Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

First open water swim. Swimming is my weakest discipline - all I wanted to do was successfully get through it without a panic attack. Took it slow and easy and did ok (no trouble breathing or panic), just slow. Sighted ok.

Just need to learn to swim faster and build endurance. I'm too cheap to pay for lessons, but I need to take advantage of my club's free coached swims.

Took longer getting socks and shoes on than I'd like, but all in all ok. 87th of 179 men.

Tried to get and hold 18 mph. Ended up with 17.8 per Garmin - avg shown here is a little high, actual course length was a little under 24 but I don't know exactly because I hit my watch a little late.
It was a nice course. There was some car traffic out there every now and then - a line of cars was backing up behind a slower bike in front of me, so I had fun riding by the cars 2 feet to my left with the grass 1 foot to my right.

I think I pushed the bike a little hard and didn't leave myself enough for the run. Also didn't drink as much as I should have - I only used about one bottle of the two that I had - wasn't thirsty, but should have stocked up on fluids before the run.

The one good thing about biking in running shoes is a fast T2. 17th out of 179 men.

Mile splits tell the story. I just got tired. Heart rate climbed slowly while my pace dropped off. I just got over strep less than a week ago, and I haven't had a good run since. Plus I was likely dehydrated, even though my stomach felt like I was drinking too much, thinking back on it I didn't really drink too much for the conditions. Granted this was my first Oly, but the run was 13 minutes slower than my best 10K. In a sprint tri I'm only about 1:30 slower than a regular 5K.

Drink more. Take the bike easier so I'd have a better run.

Got in the shade and got some fluids. I was wiped out.


A weeklong bout with strep wrecked my taper. I did manage to get a 24 mile ride and a 4 mile run in during the last week, but I didn't swim for the last 10 days prior due to sinus congestion - figured it might only make me sicker.


Nice race and I shouldn't beat myself up too much considering it was my first OWS and first Oly. I was just bummed that I ran out of steam on the run. I could have broken 3hrs with a 56 minute 10K, which I thought I should be able to do. I was just too wiped out. I definitely have more respect for the distance now. The individual legs don't sound all that big, but it adds up to a long race.