Caesar Creek Triathlon - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic

This swim was definitely my best performance to date. Followed my normal process and let mostly everyone go ahead and then started swimming. Felt good through most of the race. Direction was actually pretty decent. I only strayed off slightly to the right but quickly came back to the markers. Using a sighting method where every 8 strokes or so I would lift my head slightly and find my markers. If off track I would repeat until I was able to get on track again. A few times I did get to the point where I felt I was getting a little stressed but was able to slow down, calm down and return to form.

Not Much, I still cannot get into a solid rythm due to comfort and sighting issues but this is improving. Also I think I need to get my wet suit on higher. As Iwas swimming it felt as if the suit was pulling on my shoulder and causing some issues. I was almost fighting my wetsuit at one point because of the resistance it gave me!

Felt like it took forever to get through transition, which it did. Wet suit was caught on both calves. Overall it just seemed to take forever to get shoes on and everything in place.

Move faster,mfigure out how to remove a wetsuit

Bike was the 1st test of not having my watch. I had no clue what speed I was going or if I was wrecking any chance at a decent run. I still do not have a good feel for RPE on a bike, so I used what I learned from the muncie race to figure out where I was at in RPE. In that race I quickly learned that If my quads were burning then I was pushing too hard. Used this alarm and would pull back anytime I started to feel stressed. Nice part was that this wasn't often and I was pushing pretty hard.
After coming out of the park there was a slight uphill then the course turned downhill, I was barely out of the park and had already passed several other competitors. This part of the course was also rough, the obstacles were well marked but there were a lot of holes and cracks in the road. After the turn off of 73 was where the hills 1st came into play, this section had several decent size sections that pushed me to use several gears before the top. 1st lap I probably pushed a little too hard in this section and made note of that for the 2nd lap. One area that really put my legs into pain zone was after crossing the dam, this led to a long sweeping hill that seemed to take forever to get up. Learned my lesson from earlier hills and basically spun to the top.
After this the course turned to more of rolling hills and I was able to make up some time. Passed several competitors during this section, I found that most would coast down and then have to work back up the other side. Instead of this I moved to a heavier gear and pushed the pace going down the hill, then was able to almost coast up most of the next hill. I probably reached 30mph a few times doing this, BUT I DONT KNOW SINCE I DIDNT HAVE MY WATCH :(
2nd lap was probably a little slower but not by much. Held a little more back during the larger hills but still pushed during the rolling hills.
After finding out my bike split on Monday I was actually a little disappointed! I thought I was over 20mph for the race, but I guess 19.97 isn't too bad :)

Not forget my watch so I knew how fast I was going :)

I wear my running shoes on the bike so not much to do here, racked bike and talked the legs into moving and away I went

Move faster

I really enjoyed this run, which probably meant I wasn't running hard enough, but with limited experience and not having my watch I wasn't sure how hard I could finish.
The 2 laps of the course made it fun to be able to always be around other competitors whether they were going the other way or running with me. It was especially nice to cross paths with Austin several times during the run, of course he was over a mile ahead of me, but we were still able to give each other encouragement.
Lap 1 was uneventfull, legs felt rubbery but not terrible. Started out at an even pace and was running behind someone and thought I could use them as a pacer. Then realized I was putting no effort into the run and passed him quickly. I figured I should at least be breathing hard or I wasn't racing. 1st mile was the only area of the course that had any hill to it, coming out of the main race area the course changed off the pavement to the gravel/paved path. Allowed my effort to maintain and kept everthing in check on the way up and kept telling myself, if I make it up the hill twice I get to run down it twice and the last time will push me to the finish line. After the 1st mle course flattened out and went across some sort of levy. Only bad part in this area is the gravel path on the levy was maybe a car tire width with a 2-3 inch ridge on each side. I felt like I was going to twist an ankle if I didnt pay attention to where I was going. During the 1st lap I passed a lot of other runners I guess that even though I thought I was running slow, everyone else was running slower. :)
2nd lap was a chore to say the least, the hill out of the park was rough and felt like it went on forever. Once to the top took about 1/4 mile to regain my composure but after this I ran steady with what felt like an even pace. Hit the turnaround point and picked pace up some, several groups were ahead of me at this point and I wanted to catch as many as possible. Then with maybe 3/4 mile left there was was guy left who looked to be close to my AG. Closed the gap some during the last flat section then during the downhill section going into the parking lot, I was able to catch and pass him. As I passed him noticed he was not in my AG but the 25-29 at least it was an overall spot earned.
For the finish had to head down a small hill that then curved around and went back up a small hill to the finish. Gave what was left and finished strong

Wear some sort of device that would tell me my heart rate and maybe even current pace. I think if someone created a device like this I would never leave it on the kitchen table :).
Regardless overalll performance was good, probably could have ran a little harder but only about 30s per mile iff that!

I was a little dissapointed in the post race drinks and food, everything seemed to be picked over and chewed on. At least the watermelon was still cold, which partially made up for the warm water they had at the finish. Luckly I had ice cold powerade in the car that went down really good.