Deer Creek Olympic Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Nice easy swim to start. Then tried to hit it hard on the second lap. I had great sighting and pretty much brushed up against each buoy which means my sighting was spot on. A good amount of congestion in the turns. In fact at turn 3 on the first lap, I got caught in the blender where someone got my wrist and my watch came off. I caught it before it sank to the bottom and stuffed it in my wetsuit.

This was a great first swim of the year. I had a bit of a goggle problem with some water getting in about half way through, but didn't panic and cleaned it out. I also absorbed a lot of contact and didn't panic.

Nothing.

Nothing to write home about. Was a little late getting my swim cap off because I was busy putting my watch back on. It took me a bit to get the wetsuit over one of my heels. Other than, pretty standard.

More body glide on the legs to assist with wetsuit removal.

I was killing it. Came out of transition into the headwind and I was still averaging 20-23mph. Then we turned with the wind at our back and I was cruising at 23-27. Passing tons of people and being extremely comfortable. My HR was staying low.

That's when 5 miles in (according to GPS, exactly 5.12), we make a turn onto a gravel road. I was too busy watching traffic in front of me and the bike was moving fast, I was lining up my turn and totally missed the paint on the road that said "loose gravel" complete with skull and crossbones. I paid the price as the bike slid out from under me and I went down hard. I gashed open my knee and crushed my finger between the pavement and my handlebars. I also had a bunch of roadrash in other places. I was really upset because I was killing it and had a goal of 2:28 that I wanted to beat and felt I was going to crush that number today. Then this happened.

The police officer watching the intersection asked me if I was alright. Also, the rest of the riders coming behind me slowed down and asked me if I needed help or anything. Very nice of them. It took me 1 minute to get my chain back on and make sure my bike was in one piece. But I felt like I could finish the bike and had no idea how this would play out. I figured if I made it to transition and couldn't run, I'd pull out of the race. But that never happened. No internal damage, just some torn up flesh so I just felt really icky the whole time and kept wondering if my bike was damaged or how painful it would be at the ER later in the day when they try to clean all those gashes out. What really stunk was that my left elbow was covered in road rash which was right on the spot where my elbows go on the pads when in aero, but that stinging just went numb after 20 minutes or so. I also had blood covering and dripping off my left hand and also blood running down my left knee. It also ruined my favorite pair of tri shorts.

Anyway, it took me a minute or two to get back into my grove, but hammered out the rest of the bike maybe a little slower than I would like. With a bloody knee and a bloody left hand.

Had two bottles of Infinit on the bike with me (total of three scoops). That worked out perfectly. Had me feeling energized and strong coming off the bike.

SLOW DOWN IN THE CORNERS!!!!

With my left hand bloody and killing me, it was a little difficult getting my socks and shoes on, so it took longer than normal. But looking at the transition time results, I guess I wasn't that slow.

Great day for a run. It wasn't too hot. It was awesome weather. I stopped at the first aid station to clean off my finger and get some of the nastiness off, but it wasn't worth it. So I just kept plugging away and tried to keep my heart rate in the 155 range. Went out a bit too fast at first, but settled into a nice pace. With about 2 miles to go, I look down at my watch and realize will have no problem beating my stretch goal of 2:28 despite the bike debacle. So I think I may have actually slowed down a little bit as a I look at my splits. Miles 1-4 were all negative splits (7:45, 7:40, 7:37, 7:35) then I go to a 7:55 for the last two.

I drank heed/infinit at all the aid stations and that worked out well. No GI issues at all like I had last year coming off of races.



Maybe pick up the pace for the last two miles. Also being more careful on the bike so you're not a bloody mess can help your run too.

Went to the paramedics and used a bunch of alcohol swabs and gauze to try to clean the nastiness. I kept finding new areas of roadrash (I count 8 right now between arms, fingers, hands, and hips). Then packed up my stuff, talked to some people, and headed home to shower and then over to urgent care to get bandaged up.


The wipeout on the bike.


Great day for a race. HFP always puts on a good race. You know what you are going to get. Great event. great organization, great competition, great accurate course, but mediocre post race amenities.