Peachtree International Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Got started and felt pretty good from the start. We were sent off 2 at a time every five seconds. Out along a series of yellow buoys, turn right at an orange one, turn right again at a second orange one, then back along the yellow buoys to shore. I felt like I was a little too far to the outside, but there were always people even farther outside than me, so I figured I was ok. I was tight enough to the buoys at the turns that I don't think I lost too much. I'm also not sure I kept the straightest line, but I don't really know. I got the impression that I was passing a fair number of people, but again it's hard to tell in a murky pond with all the thrashing.

As I exited the water I hit the split on my watch and saw 30 minutes and something. A little disappointed because I felt like I gave it a good effort. The course must have been long like last year because I ended up 2nd fastest in my AG - so I'm glad to know it really was a good effort. At the time I thought I was going to have to really exceed my plan to break 3 hours.

Didn't draft - as it turns out, I probably seeded myself too far back to easily find someone at the right pace to draft off of. I presume drafting is easier in a mass start where you can sort yourself out with people at the same pace. I also would work on keeping a little closer line to the buoys, but I had plenty of space to swim where I was so maybe it worked out for the best.

I pretty much waited to get to my spot before trying to get out of the suit, because I hadn't had any success in practice getting the Desoto top over my head while moving. I was just a clumsy fumblefingers in this transition. It took a while to get the top over my head, but getting it the rest of the way off was fine, and getting the bibjohn off wasn't too bad. Put helmet on first, then shoes. Started to put on my sunglasses but they were foggy from the morning humidity and put them back with one arm in the bento box to put on during the ride.

Practice taking off that infernal pullover. I fumbled a bit with my shoes, too, so practice with them.

This course was perfect for me on the bike. I would guess it's the perfect definition of "rolling" hills - very few big hills that you have to gear way down to get over. A lot of the course had race traffic going both ways - several out-and-back kind of sections with lollipops - and I'd see people coming the other direction and think, oh no that looks like a hill that will really slow me down. But then when I'd get to that hill, it never turned out as bad as I thought. I was able to keep my speed up and really push through it. My time was still thoroughly average wrt the field, but for *me* it was pretty darn speedy - a full mph faster than my fastest ride to date.

I was passed pretty much constantly but it wasn't ugly, really, just relentless. I also got lots of "nice shoes" comments (they're pink!) from the volunteers so that kept my spirits up.

I took a gel pretty soon after starting the bike. Then about 5 miles in, I realized I didn't have my sunglasses on and they hadn't been stuck on my bento box when I'd taken the gel out of there. Well, there's $25 I'll never see again, I thought. But! The nice volunteers at transition found them and I got them back later! Still, that's why I can't have nice things.

Keep working on the bike - I've only been doing this since January. I also lost focus a little bit near the farthest turnaround, so keep focus. Also, I forgot to turn my Garmin on before the swim, so I tried to turn it on as I started the bike and it took forever to acquire satellites since I was moving (though it eventually did). So, don't be a bozo regarding the Garmin.

I had practiced getting out of my shoes on the bike and was ok but when it came down to it, as I was coming into transition I wasn't sure I had it so I just unclipped and ran in my shoes. My transition spot was close to the bike entrance so I'd already decided that if I had to keep my shoes on it was no biggie because I didn't have far to go. Almost racked my bike in the wrong spot! Otherwise, shoes off, helmet off, running shoes on, grab visor and race belt and put them on as I ran out. So the only real flub was picking the wrong spot.

Remember my race number and use my actual stuff instead of my misremembered number to find my rack position. Goofus.

I got started and took a few minutes to work out my bike legs and felt pretty good. My bricks in training had gone really well and I could only hope that I still had that same fuel left in the tank to get it done here. I settled into my groove and was passing people pretty much throughout. A few guys blew past me but I was passing way more people than passed me. As I reached the first mile marker I glanced at my watch and I was at 8:something and I thought maybe I was going too fast but kept going by feel. I took a gel right before the 1.5 mile water stop (for the record - 1 gel near the beginning of the bike, another about 50 minutes into the bike, and a third one here on the run). At mile 4 I tried to push it as much as I could at that point, and around mile 5 I finally started to feel the effects of everything I'd done so far. Near the end maybe half a mile from the finish there are these tiny little rollers - I mean so small you can see over them - and at that point I'm like, really? I have to run over these hills? Then it flattened out and I ran back across the bridge to the finish area and suddenly there's the finish line and it was over.

I can't believe my finish time, or my run split. I have a serious case of impostor syndrome. I find myself questioning whether the run was short, because this would be a big 10K PR for me. But regardless, I do know I ran it hard and smart and didn't leave anything in the tank.

I'm pretty happy with my run. I'm glad I ran it without Garmin, and I think I pushed about as hard as I could and still finish strong.

I was pretty emotional at the end of the race. My family had caught me as I went out on the bike, and I didn't see them at any other point during the race. My DH was confused on the time to be back for the finish, and the kids didn't want to leave the McD's playground, and I was faster than I thought anyway. So I walked down to transition and sucked down some Gatorade. I was sorry they missed me but not sorry that part of the reason was that I finished ahead of plan.


On this day, the only thing I'd really change is my clumsy transitions. Over time, I know I have the most time to make up on the bike so just keep riding. Also, 5-10 extra lbs is probably slowing me down a bit.


This is a fantastic race and not just because it was my first Oly and I was way faster than I expected. The organization is great, course is fast and appealing, and the place was teeming with volunteers. The bike is rolling and the run is wonderfully shaded. Starbucks and pizza at the finish as well as the usual suspects (bananas, oranges, 'ade, water). Cute bling (medal made out of a bike chain).