North Country Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

The swim course changed from how it had been set up in years past. Since this was my first time doing this event I didn’t know any different. The swim started in a boat ramp area that had to long points on each side. The points extended out about 150 yards before you hit open water which created a chute. This packed the swimmers in at the start until it opened up. Strategically I thought I would start on the right hand side since the first buoy was to be kept on swimmers right. What ending up happening is that the pack seemed to veer right cutting that buoy off. Since I was already way over to the right I had no choice to go with the flow. The buoy was placed there for a reason as we soon found out. The point of land extended out into the water which made it shallow enough to stand. Remarkably, many people did just that. The problem was that I was now stuck behind the “water walkers” There was no way I was standing up so I had no choice but to fight my way through them. Once I got past this debacle I was able to get into my slow steady breathing rhythm and help that pace right along with many others. OWS is still fairly new to me so it was kind of an odd feeling to turn my head on a breathing stroke and see another guys face close enough to spit water on. No big deal though. I felt good that I seemed to be doing pretty well and kept on going. I made the turn to head back on the inbound swim leg without much issue. I found myself veering off course quite a bit but I corrected quickly enough to get back on track. As I neared the swim exit it started to shallow up way outside of the beach. Foolishly, many people started to stand up 100 yards out and tried to run in. I knew it was shallow there from my previous knowledge of that particular area of the lake and already had it in my mind that I was going to swim in until my knuckles were dragging on the sand. Again, I got caught out behind some of the“water walkers” and probably used more energy then I needed to trying to get around them.


Think more carefully about where I line up to start.

in spite of the fact that I tried to swim in as far as I could the water was so shallow that I ended up standing and walking/jogging out too soon. I started to unzip my wetsuit as I was walking and had the thing at my waist by the time I saw my bike. I had used cooking spray on the front of my legs which really helped get my wetsuit off much faster. My Garmin was on ready to go and my prep work made everything else go smoothly. I was very pleased with my transition.


Swim in just a little closer.

I felt that this is a pretty difficult bike course. I heard it described as “Adirondack Flat” which means that it isn’t really flat at all. It was full of rolling hills the entire way so you had to work pretty hard throughout. The major bummer of the day was that it was absolutely pouring rain during the entire bike leg. I never let that get to me though even though I really dislike riding in the rain. I just went the best I could at my pace and hoped for the best. I consider the bike my strength because this is where most of my experience lies. That said, I am not really that fast but I can go along at a pretty good clip. I have a new custom geometry road bike this year which I absolutely love. It may not be the most aero machine but I feel really comfortable on it which is half the battle. The guys on the tri bikes past me early on or where already out in front of me. The slower people were behind me so I was feeling like I was pretty much in the middle where I wanted to be. The bike course features a beast of a climb. The distance is 3 miles with gradients of up to 13% (according to my GPS) I had done a recon of the climb a week before so I knew where the steep sections were and where the climb finally ended. This turned out to be very valuable information as I knew where to go hard and where to just spin up. I passed a few people about a mile in to the climb but stayed near a few guys the rest of the way up. I had passed a guy on a tri bike on the final steep section which I felt really good about until he blew by me later on the descent! The descent was insane!! Straight down in the pouring rain reaching speeds of 38 MPH. Probably not the smartest thing to do but there was no way I wasn’t going to take advantage of the downhill after that brutal climb up.


Keep on training harder.

This went excellent for me. I threw my bike on the rack, kicked off my cycling shoes, threw on my running shoes w/speed laces grabbed my Garmin and race belt and started running out. I sorted out the rest of my stuff out on the road. Soon I was on my way to the final leg. So this is what an effective transition feels like?

Nothing

I was a little disappointed in my run. This was a very hilly course and one that I found difficult. My race plan was to slow it down to about a 9:30 mile for the first 5K and then to pick up the pace to sub 8:00 during the last 5K. Well as it turned out I wasn’t very effective at doing so. Less than a mile in I felt my left quad starting to tighten up. This had me nervous and wasn’t sure what was going to happen. It turned out to be a non-issue so I kept on running. I ended up going faster then I wanted to right out of the gate and found myself trying to slow down. Since I had never run this distance during a tri I wasn’t sure how much I would have left in the tank. I ended up running closer to an 8:30 minute mile and ended up just holding this pace all the way. I didn’t think I would need too much liquid from the aid stations but I ended up grabbing a drink at every stop. I never stopped running though. I took the drinks on the fly and pinched the paper cup so that I could get the fluid down on the run. I just plugged along and was passed by only one guy in my age group. I wasn’t sure if this was good or bad so I kept on going the best I could. The last mile I caught up to a guy much younger than me who was running a relay leg. I ended up running along with him and did a sub 8 mile during mile 6. On one hand I was happy to have the energy at the end but left wondering if I didn’t go hard enough. I came across the line with a smile on my face and a big hug from my wife and son.


Train harder for the run. Become more comfortable with pacing.

Drank a few cans of the Izze soda they had on site and ate some banana. I also had a post race peanut butter and honey sandwhich that I had packed in my transition bag. Spend the time hanging out with my family and the other athletes enjoying the camaraderie.


Bad luck with the swim. Maybe could have used a few more longer training rides. Didn't have my new bike until three weeks before the race though. Need to train harder on the run.


THis was a great race. Spectacular scenery, pristine waters and outstanding volunteers. Highly recommend and would do it again.