Giant Acorn International - TriathlonOlympic

I just can't believe the difference a wetsuit makes. I'm a slow swimmer - last Olympic tri I was 32 of 32 in my AG. This time I was in the mix - sure I was toward the back of my AG, but still in the pack. Drifted around a bit and found it hard to see the finish on the last leg, but everyone else seemed to have the same issue. The wetsuit seemed to rescue my bad form and the fact that I probably turn my head too far out of the water to breathe actually helped me in the chop.

Focus more on bilateral breathing. I was new to the wetsuit and felt like I was better off breathing every 2 strokes instead of every 3 like I do in practice. Wound up swimming in circles more. I'm pretty straight when I breathe every 3.

I managed to get the top of the wetsuit peeled down fine by the time I got to my rack, but I could not for the life of me get the frickin thing off my legs. My calves cramped up like crazy while I was wrestling with getting the thing off my legs. First time doing this, I guess I should look into some lubricant. The rest of T1 went ok, but I was pretty flustered by then. I'm usually pretty good at transitions.

Bring a tub of Crisco?

This was my 2nd international distance (Colonial Beach was my first). Last time I blew up on the run, so I took the bike a little easier this time. Now I think my failure on the run last time had more to do with heat and the fact that I had strep a week earlier. I think I held back a little too much this time. This was also my first race with bike shoes and clipless pedals (previously used toe cages) - I'm not seeing a speed improvement at all, but maybe I just need more time to develop the different muscles.

Go a little harder.

That's more like it. I got my feet out of my shoes before dismounting. This was my first time doing this, so I gave myself a lot of distance to do it. I probably did it too early, but I didn't want to get to the end and still be fighting the shoes.

Maybe wait a little longer to get out of the shoes, but I didn't want to risk being stuck in the shoes when I got to the dismount line.

I can't complain. I wanted to hold it together and finish in 57 minutes in order to get a sub-3hr overall time. I managed to do it and even sprint to the finish against another guy.

Nothing at all.

Wait in line for the food that didn't exist when I got there.


Lack of Crisco to get the freakin wetsuit off. Need to bike harder. Conventional wisdom says clipless is better than toe cages, and I do like the ability to pedal 360 degrees when climbing a hill, but my numbers have yet to show an improvement after 1 month.


It was mostly run well - on time, adequate volunteers for the water stations, plenty of kayaks on the swim, all-in-all on-course support was good and that is the most important thing.

However, packet pickup took about 45 minutes. Also, post-race pizza and subs were advertised, but they were out when I got there. Guess I need to race faster.