Age Group National Championship - TriathlonOlympic

I hung onto the dock until just before the start. I was near the back on the right. I listened to my tempo trainer set to 1:14 well. The start was pretty good. I felt comfortable. But the waves made this a really tough swim for me. I was not prepared for them. I was used to swimming in much calmer water. Before I reached the first buoy, swimmers from the wave after mine started to pass me. When I made the turn around the first buoy the sun was straight ahead of me but I couldn't see it at all. So I just trusted that the swimmers in front of me were going the right way. At no time did I feel like I was making good forward motion. Just a lot of knocking around from the waves. More later waves were passing me. Little things didn't go quite right too, like water in my goggles, weeds wrapped around my arm, breathing in water from a wave. I was so glad to done with this swim.

More practice in rougher waters would help. And just a stronger swimmer.

Went pretty smoothly. It's super easy to find your bike when all the other bikes around you are gone. I knew my swim was pretty bad, and at this point I thought I might be last in my age group.

Forget about the swim and focus better on the next stage of the race.

My Garmin lap button must have been pushed accidentally since when I looked down to start it, it already said it was in the Run mode. It too me a good 1/4 of a mile to get it started again in the multisport mode. I was more focused in not running into other riders who were trying to get their feet into their shoes. My mind was also still back in the water thinking about the swim. It took me some time to focus. The second half of the bike was much better and I was having a lot of fun. It all went be so fast.

Push it harder.

They warned us about the slippery mats. But I fell on it anyway. But I was able to keep my bike upright, and I popped back up again, just muddier. When I got to the rack, the two bikes on either side of mine were too close together. I ended up just putting my bike between them on the ground.

Calm down, go a little more slowly.

It was a really wicked hill to start with. But I got up it without walking. The first 4 miles went pretty well. But then I was losing steam. I never noticed passing anyone in my age group, and was pretty sure I was last in my group. I was feeling a little defeated. Miles 5 and 6 got slower and slower. But Kate Queeney was about 400 yd before the finish encouraging me to sprint to the finish. I need her at the end of all my races. Even though I didn't feel like I had much more left, I was able kick it in.

Not much. This was just 12 seconds slower than my 10K PR. And considering that I've not been doing much speed work over the summer as I was trying to heal my hip flexor, I couldn't be happier about the run. New shoes would be nice. My Fastwitch as so done.

Drinking and walking around slowly.


Not a strong swimmer, self-doubt.


This was definitely the toughest triathlon I've done, and will probably be the most competitive too. Even though I wish I did a little better, I'm still really pleased with how it went. I would love to do it again.