Keystone State Triathalon - TriathlonOlympic

Felt like I got in to a good rhythm, put out the right effort level but my form wasn't quite there. Definitely much better if I have a wetsuit to keep my legs from sinking. First swim in my speed suit - difficult to say if it helped, but it didn't hurt. A bit disappointed with time, but not totally unexpected for me without a wetsuit.

Sight more frequently - had a couple of small navigation issues when I went too many strokes without sighting. Nothing major, but would have made me a little straighter.

Totally screwed up my mount. First race with my new tri shoes and I hadn't practiced flying mount with them. First shoe rubber band snapped before I totally got on. I actually had to stop to get my foot in. Recovered all right.

Practice my mount more. It was a shame, rest of transition went very well - helmet and glasses were on practically automatically - I didn't even remember doing it.

We technically raced in a hurricane since the very outer bands of Irene were just reaching the area and had a couple short periods of light rain :-)

Did a good job of not pushing too hard on first lap - got into rhythm, the one steep climb felt much easier to me than last time I raced here a little over 2 years ago. Had issues on the longer, lower grade climbs - just didn't seem to be able to keep up speed well. I think every time I got passed it was on these. Descents were fun - easy to spin out, then tuck down aero and bank around the turns. Did a good job of staying down and carrying my speed into the next climbs. Caught myself losing focus on the 2nd loop - got passed and realized I wasn't really putting forth a race effort. Stepped it up for the remainder of the loop and the third loop. Think I may have overhydrated pre-race - actually had to pee on the bike on the road bike to transition.

Hmm....I think last year my bike was my strongest part. 2 races in a row I've had what I think was a subpar bike. Not sure what my issue is - I'm getting in the miles and quality workouts, it just doesn't seem to be coming together this season.

Feet out, jumped off bike well - and somehow dropped a shoe!?!?! Have no idea how it popped out, but as I hit the ground running, I heard race volunteer call out that I lost a shoe, and sure enough, just past the dismount was my right shoe. Had to put down the bike and run back to it.

Umm,not sure. I've never done that before. Most of that time from the shoe incident is actually added to the bike rather than the T2 time because it happened prior to the mat. I guess maybe practice my dismount more, but I usually do that on every ride and never had that happen to me.

Wanted to moderate my speed right off the bike, and had it in mind that was what I was doing, but once I paid attention I realized my body was pushing by itself too hard. Managed to get myself slowed down. Had Garmin on 1 mile autolap to keep track, and it kept telling me every mile was getting slower, which made me feel like today wasn't my day. One short steep incline on run that came out of nowhere - definitely had to dial back on the effort so I didn't red-line. After supposedly dropping off about 30" per mile from mile 1 to 4, I decided to stop pushing hard and just have fun. Loosened up and tried to focus on enjoying the run. Next split was 20" faster. Made me feel better and finished strong - to see that my Garmin only had the course at 5.7 miles. It often underestimates, especially with heavy tree covers, so hoping the course was actually 10k.

If my Garmin says I'm running slower than I think/feel I am, don't let it go to my head :-)

Not much - a very small amount of stretching. Ate a panera bagel, egg and cheese sandwich - yum!! - plus a banana and some water. Broke down my transition, changed out of my tri suit and put on my compression socks.


Swim form and bike power output. Pretty happy with that run time on a twisty, unpaved course after a tough bike. Bike mount and dismount issues.


No big issues with the race itself - especially given the short notice of rescheduling Oly event a day early, I thought they did a good job. Had medals for AG prizes, which I like. Post-race spread was nice, but no massage. Multiple loops got sort of boring. Wouldn't set up my schedule specifically for this race, but would do it again if it fit in to the rest of my season plan. I originally planned on doing Riverstock this weekend, but it was cancelled due to low registration numbers - a shame, because I think it was a better Oly distance event.

Two big issues I did have with the race. First, apparently most of the olympic swimmers stood up at the beginning of the second wave in shallow water and took the opportunity to dive forward, which I'm pretty sure is a penalty under USAT rules. Second, I heard from spectators afterwards that apparently the overall winner cut the swim course and was not DQ'd. If I had known it was an option, maybe I would have done it, too. He was fast enough he probably would have won anyway, but if rules don't apply to everyone it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Part of the swim is navigating, and if you can't do it, then your time should reflect that. My family who was watching said he missed the last turn buoy - which is impressive because its a 2 loop course, he had already done it once, and it was a different color than the other buoys. Definitely something the race organizer should take in to consideration - it definitely left me feeling that I'd rather not do this race again.