Lake Murray Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Worse swim of my life. I'm such a cold water wimp. Cool/cold water on my face causes me to gasp uncontrollably and I spent an eternity calming my breathing. Took me at least 10 minutes of just floating on my back and trying to relax before breathing settled down to where I could swim. I swear I was exhausted before I got started. My heart rate was off the charts and I was struggling to get in air. Just kept reminding myself that dying was better than DNFing and that I didn't want to die. Wouldn't you know that by the last 100 meters I was fine but completely spent. I walked up the boat ramp feeling worse than after running the entire race at St. A's.

Get in and swim. Get over the cold immersion and get the HR settled down before the race. Must never race again without thoroughly warming up.

Was so exhausted that I just walked to T-1 and got changed. Suit was stuck a little.

I was tired starting out and did manage to recover a little but not much. Passed a bunch of folks but was too far out of it for it to matter much. Stayed hydrated and felt the positive effects of the two gels I consumed. Had one about 10 minutes into the bike and the other about 10 minutes from the finish of the bike. Spun up some of the hills but felt tired for the most part. Max speed was 38 but really didn't enjoy the ride and I normally like the bike most of all. The roads were bumpy and several stretches were paved with just rough gravel and tar, I hate that stuff. Didn't witness it but seen the victims of a heck of a crash that occurred almost in sight of the finish line. Lots of road rash but no serious injuries. By the time I finished the bike course I was thinking, just do the run, get your stuff and get out of town.

Not suck so bad.

yea,yea,yea

Hilly run course and I think I would normally have liked this course had I felt better. Just wanted to get it done and move on.

If I sound a little down it's because I am. I really wanted to do well at this race and I let myself down and embarassed myself by not preparing properly before the race started. I hate to keep referencing St.A's but we were focused for that race. There was the social aspect but we all focused on our performance and it showed. Here it was just different.
BTers Mike Wilson and Donna Wade had great race times here. I think Donna had 2nd in her AG. She's a solid performer and competitor and anyone in the upstate lucky enough to train with her will be better for it.
Right now I need to step back, refocus my training and diet and see what the rest of my race schedule will be. I will have a busy fall schedule but we'll see about the rest of this summer.