Mountaineer Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Had a great swim. I had no trouble at all staying on line and aiming straight for the buoys. I think the current might have been pushing others offline a bit, because it seemed everyone else was taking a real wide route to the first buoy on both laps. Perhaps they were sighting with the shoreline?

Probably could have pushed harder, but I was happy with my effort level. Based on how fresh I felt when I got out of the water, I know I had lot more in me.

As I was getting my wetsuit off, I dropped my cap. Didn't even notice, so I kept on running. Some volunteer was yelling at me that I dropped it, but I was more interested in finding my bike and tried to indicate that I didn't really care. Post-race, I noticed they found my spot and put my cap on top of my goggles. I appreciated the effort, even if for a cheap latex cap to add to my collection.

I wasted a bit of time finding my bike. I remember the wrong row letter (G - that was my sister's row) and overshot my bike by a few rows. I was also slow getting everything together and moving out.

Pay more attention to my rack location. Need to remember to find an external landmark to use, like a tree. Had a little trouble getting the wetsuit over my watch too.

By far the hilliest course I've ever ridden. It was intimidating to drive the course the day before, but I'm glad I did. There was some confusion about the location of the turnaround for the Olympic. A volunteer yelled to me about 1/2 mile out to ignore the first turnaround marking in the road and keep going. So, at the bottom of one hill, I noticed the marking, and it looked crossed out, and above it said "All" with an arrow pointing up. So I continued and climbed the next hill (about 1/4 mile, 75 foot hill). At the top of the hill, it became clear I made the right decision, as I saw several volunteers, cones, and a sign in the middle of the road that said HFP Racing, Olympic Turnaround Only).

In talking with some other racers, it appears many people turned around at the lower point, probably because the person in front of them did. Either way, both points put the distance 1.5-2.0 miles longer than a 40K.

Probably could have climbed harder, but I wanted to make sure I could finish, so I just picked a low gear and spun away climbing at 7-10 mph.

Got my feet out of my shoes no problem, and then went to jump off the bike and when I swung my right foot around and got ready to dismount, my right pinky toe caught a spoke. From the cuts in between my toes, it looks like it tried to rip off my toe. I don't think it's broken, but it's starting to hurt walking on it. The feeling like my shoe was filling with blood subsided about a mile into the run.

Be a little more careful dismounting.

My mind was occupied the first mile by my throbbing pinky toe. Then I felt decent for the second mile, and then I started to suffer. Right quad and hamstring felt very tight/painful (quad pain started Thursday night while bowling. I'm going to blame the bowling). Pushed through it, and held an okay pace. Last mile everything was hurting, but I just kept moving, and was able to pull a little bit of a kick out for the finish.

I know I can hold a faster pace on the run, I just have to make myself do it.

Walked around waiting for Lisa to finish. Once she finished, we rushed to the hotel to get in a quick shower before our noon checkout, then came back to collect our awards.


Uncertainty about my ability to perform on the bike course. Leg pain on the run.


I put "just right" for the course, but some mind find the bike to be "too hard." For me, it's "just right" if it challenges me enough that I think I might not finish, but I'm still able to. The only course that would be "too hard" would be one I couldn't finish standing up.

Great job HFP on the race. Definitely worth the 4 hour drive.

(Will update with official times and results when available)