Giant Acorn International - TriathlonOlympic

Definitely my hardest swim and usually this is my strength. I may have felt overly confident, but have only done 1 other open water swim and no chop or current to worry about. Heading into the chop was tough to get the timing of my breathing in between waves crashing in my mouth. From first turn buoy to second I was fine and felt good, but coming home I kept getting pulled right off course and had a hard time sighting. This was definitely where I lost time.

More practice open water swimming.

This was a first dealing with the wetsuit in transition. I was able to run in and remove top half on the way so was pleased with that. Felt a bit disorganized in T1, and due to cold i did put on a longsleeve shirt over trisuit. Long uphill run with bike over gravel, but got on and going with no trouble. Suprised that I placed so high here (8th in AG) as it felt really slow.

Not much other than just keep practicing.

A very nice course for my first time at this distance. No real climbs just nice and steady. I was unfamiliar with the course so I started relatively easy in second ring. I wasn't really slacking, but entertained myself by counting the number of people who passed me. Even though I can definitely use more time in the saddle, I will have to upgrade the bike this winter if I hope to be more competetive next year. It can be frustrating watchng people with the same cadence blow by you when you are in top gears. Took a Gu prior to start and at halfway point....really nailed the nutrition on this first Oly race. Only water on the bike. Second loop I switched to big ring for the entire course. One very negative thing.....as I was appraoching the dismount a spectator ran in front of me about 15ft out. I yelled "heads up" and she couldn't decide whether to move forward or backward. I slammed on the brakes and skidded badly. I really thought I was going down. I definitely yelled at her. I remember thinking how upset I would be if I finished 25 miles only to crash at the dismount.

Probably nothing. My bike and I are just slow (although this was my fastest race pace of the year). Not almost crash at the finish??? Easily lost a minute here and was shaking on dismount.

Sooo.....my feel were completely numb after the bike. Not sure whether from cold or just long bike. Had to run downhill to transition (I am sure I looked pretty funny hobbling with numb feet on the slope). Was still a bit rattled from my almost crash and fumbled with my equipment. Started out to run when I realized I forgot my number. Ran back to get it losing probably 45 sec.

Not forget race belt!!!!!

So running is really my weakness, but this was a great run for me at the end of a long race. I have only done 2 6mile runs in training and this was faster than both of them. The first lap was tough mentally. My feet were numb until mile 2. I did a few short walks (30 sec or less) to get breathing down. My calves were really tight the entire race, but held up. I did step on a root wrong in the first trail section, but only a minor tweak. During the second lap I felt great....really proud of myself for completing this distance. I passed a few people in my age group and the last half mile really turned it on. I chased down a woman who I though was in my AG (not, but felt good) and generally felt amazing at the finish!

Nothing really...could have pushed a little more I suppose, but happy with my run.

Walked around and chatted. Had a soda and cookie. food line was too long. Then went to campsite with the family and dedicate some time to them.


Just practice and experience and maybe some new gear (bike!)


Good race and would definitely suggest it for someone looking to move up to first Oly. Only issue I had was that all the lines were really long for a small race. Check in took forever and my friend only had 8 min in transition to set up. Food line was also really long so I passed.