Pittsburgh Triathlon - International Distance - TriathlonOlympic

The pre-race meeting did not review the swim course. I wish I had looked at it more carefully. The first half of the swim went really well. My sighting was good, and I had good lines on the buoys. About halfway in, my goggles fogged up a little, and I stopped seeing buoys. Eventually I saw the exit, so I headed straight for it. When I was nearly there, a lifeguard stops me and tells me that I have to go around the yellow buoy. I'm near the shore while the yellow buoy is about 75 yards off shore. :(

Review the course before entering the swim. Figure out a way to stop my goggles from fogging up.

IT was a perfectly ordinary transition. For a few panicked seconds, I wasn't sure my tri top was going to go on. I hadn't tried swimming in it yet, so I didn't wear it for the swim.

Nothing.

I was pleased with my biking today. The course is one big hill. Last year I barely made it up. This year I found my gears and was able to spin the whole way up the hill. When I coasted on the downhill, people passed me, so I'd start pedaling and pass them right back. I ate half a clif bar near the top of the hill on both laps. That felt about right.

I really like this course. My favorite part is flying down the hill coming back in, and you go around a bend and right there in front of you is downtown Pittsburgh.

I just need to bike more hills to improve going up.

It was very thoughtful of the race director to put a bench along the side of transition right beside my spot.

About a mile into the run, I thought to myself that I need to find aquabike races. My hip was cramping a bit and my knee hurt, so I was walking as much as running trying to loosen these up. I had planned on doing run/walk but I forgot my watch so I was going by feel. Eventually both knee and hip stopped hurting (at least until after the run). I drank at every aid station which were about every mile. This worked for the most part. I took a gu at the turnaround, and that made me feel really good for about 15 minutes. I'd bet that I ran a negative split.

I really need to train the run better and more consistently.

Water, water everywhere and walking back to the hotel to shower.


I forgot my Garmin watch at home, so I didn't time my nutrition/hydration on the bike. It would also have been nice to know how fast I was going downhill. More significantly, I didn't have it to time my run/walk intervals. I think I'd have been a little faster with it. I know the walks sometimes went a bit long. Not knowing the details of the swim course also cost me.


There were enough volunteers at the aid stations on the run, at least when I was out there, but a couple more pointing the way on the bike course for the turns in town would be nice.

I headed to the water start as soon as the pre-race meeting was finished, and I made it with thirty seconds to spare. That's ridiculous. The line to get into transition in the morning was also ridiculous. With a thousand racers, there ought to be more than one entrance. Two more volunteers could have had another gate open.

I skipped the postrace activities in order to walk back to the hotel and shower before checkout.

This was my first olympic distance race. As such, I set a PR, even if it is one that will likely be bested in the next race. I also met both of my goals: don't be DFL and don't be last in my age group. Apart from my mis-navigating the swim and adding 150 yards or so and forgetting my watch to time nutrition/hydration and my run/walk ratio, it was a pretty good day.