Toyota U.S. Open Triathlon - International Course - TriathlonOlympic

I felt pretty good at this swim and my best performance yet in an OWS triathlon right at 2:00/100m. I got a little lost and drifted to the right on the last leg home and probably swam an extra 100m. Tried to draft and was mildly successful but couldn't really find the right set of feet. I swam fairly easy and could've gone just a bit harder.

Continue with my consistent 3x/week swims and start getting in closer to 2500yds every workout. I think I can definitely go somewhere around 28 minutes by next year, and will shoot for below 38 minutes at Galveston in 6 months.

Comparing the last 3 years:

2012: 30:48
2011: 32:54
2010: 39:02

delta: faster by 2:06!

Throughout the swim, I would catch myself just swimming too relaxed and I had to remind myself that I was in a race and I better stop taking the 'sunday stroll' attitude so was very happy with improvement.

Probably one of my worst T1's ever. I did ok until it was time to take the wetsuit off. I was able to run and get my earplugs/goggles and the top half of my wetsuit off before I got to the rack. However, at the rack, when I tried to remove my wetsuit, my left hamstring cramped up! I was able to relax it and it went away and when I tried to step out of the wetsuit, my left calf cramped next. Again, not bad but delayed me by about 20-30 sec for that portion. I then took another extra minute to put on my jacket, which turned out to be harder since I was wet and it had some soft lining. Finally, my gloves took forever to get on right! Easily would've been a 3 minute transition since I actually got my glasses and helmet on pretty quick!

Need to figure out a better choice for the jacket, but then again, not sure if I'll be doing another triathlon in 47F weather! In hindsight, maybe I could've gotten away with the vest and gloves, or maybe even just ditched the gloves...

2012:4:44
2011:4:45
2010:3:01

delta: 1 sec faster! (ok - last year I had horrible shin cramps coming out of the mud, and this year, it was also hamstring and calf cramps taking off the wetsuit, plus the added time of putting on jacket and gloves. I think I could've been at least a minute faster not messing with the gloves and jacket but still need to get better in T1.

I knew as soon as I got on the bike course that I wasn't going to have the greatest bike. My legs felt a bit weak from the cold and took me a while to get in a good groove. There was also a lot of traffic and I couldn't get into a constant zone where I was putting out a constant wattage. It was a lot of slowing down, and then spiking up the power at the hills then having to recover downhill.

Train the bike more next year. It used to be my strength and my run is now much stronger. I really need to work on better muscular endurance and strength on the bike. My HR was 141bpm so my limiter wasn't aerobic but muscular endurance on the bike.

2012: 1:12:11 (20.6 mph)
2011: 1:11:51 (20.7 mph)
2010: 1:13:35 (20.2 mph)

delta: 20 sec slower than last year! It was also a faster course so I think I was probably about 1-2 minutes slower. Still pretty close and similar to my results from my last 3 races this year. I'm definitely going for sub 1:10 next year!

The toughest part of T2 was when I dismounted, I couldn't feel my feet. It was odd as I could've stepped on a nail and wouldn't have felt it. Made it hard to run hard as I didn't know what kind of damage I may cause because I couldn't feel how I was even landing my strides. I also had to ditch my jacket and gloves which cost me about 20-25 seconds extra.

Hopefully not have to worry about a jacket and gloves again in a triathlon race....as well as numb feet. Otherwise, I was fairly happy with this T2.

2012: 2:11
2011: 1:48
2010: 1:31

delta: 23 sec slower. I think I would have been closer to last year's time if I didn't have to mess with jacket and glove. Feet were also numb and I think I was a bit cautious running.

I didn't get a chance to practice on this course so didn't know what to expect - just that it was hilly. Well - the scouting reports didn't lie. There was hardly ANY time (not exaggerating) that I wasn't either going downhill or uphill throughout the course. I never got into a steady zone and it was more like doing intervals! However, I still ran well, and even though I couldn't feel my feet the first mile (almost sprained my left ankle as I stepped on a traffic dot), it got better and I was able to get going. I got a 10K PR that topped my open 10K PR - so that's 3 straight triathlons where I PR'd on the run beating my open run times at 5K (twice) and 10K distance from last year. Felt good as the temps were right under 50F during the run (and overcast) so perfect running weather!

Push a little harder sooner. I didn't push it until 4.5 miles and I probably could've pushed another mile earlier. I was having a nice race with a guy from my wave and I got into race mode vs time trial mode as I was determined to beat him so I ran off his shoulder for the first 3-4 miles (at least when I was behind him as I would pass him on downhills and he would repass me going up - until I put on my surge).

2012: 43:22 (7:00/mile pace)
2011: 45:11 (7:17/mile pace)
2010: 51:41 (8:25/mile pace)

delta: 1:51 faster! Continuing to improve on the run - and given that this course was a harder run course than last year, I was even more pleased with this result. I think that the run course was at least 30 sec harder and I think I would've gone under 43 minutes if it was the old course.

Not much - was completely gassed at the finish and had to take 3 minutes or so just leaning over a table to catch my breath and bearings. After that, just walked around and looked for food.


Main thing is I think I was about 3-4 minutes off what I should be able to do on the bike. I will focus on the bike coming into 2013 and hope to bring it to my strength again while retaining my run/swim improvements from this year. I hope to keep my retain run fitness but I think I can still gain some more speed on the swim even with the limited swim practice as I have so much more technique work and flexibility to improve on. I think I can get another 2 minutes on this swim next year, and then get my bike as an equal strength to my run.

2012: 2:33:18
2011: 2:36:30
2010: 2:48:48

delta: 3:12 faster! I gained the bulk of my time in the swim and run and this mirrors my run focus and continued work on the swim this year (I have so much more to go on the swim so have most of the improvement to get there).

In order to get under 2:30, I have to shave about 4+ minutes from my time and it looks like I have at least 2 minutes to get from transitions (if not more). I think I have another 2 minutes to get on the swim, and then at least 2 minutes on the bike. I fair target for next year would be a sub 2:28 if conditions are nicer (no need for jacket/gloves). The challenge will be to keep my run fitness while continuing to improve on the swim/bike.


This is the Dallas area's biggest triathlon and always great to have that big-race atmosphere. It brings out a lot of the 'fast people' (since it's a good time to compare to the Pros - some of whom were Olympians!). Even though the Oly distance is not my best distance - I have used this race to cap off my first 3 triathlon seasons!