Black Bear - TriathlonOlympic

PR'd the swim which is the good news! Great start as I placed myself all the way to the left and had plenty of space. I went all out for the 1st 100 meters and then start to settle into a good rhythm. Only 2 issues with people from the 1st wave in my way and the turns were fine. The glare on heading back from the sun was challenging to find the buoys but did fine. This is a swimmers delight as the reservoir is deep, clean and calm.

Continue improving my overall speed with more intense intervals @ my masters swim class.

I was a little slow exiting as my HR was high but recovered and then had issues getting my wet suit off. Part of the reason was the thick grass in T1 and balancing myself when taking off my suit. Then we had to climb a hill to exit to the bike which is about .20 miles from T1 so I had to watch my footing.

Focus more on the terrain and moving quicker from the swim. The ground, it'sPA, is rocky and on a hill so I was weary of spraining an ankle which I did in 2010.

Two words: FLAT TIRE!!!...mile 7. This not only frustrated the hell out me as I knew would not reach my goals for the race but took out some motivation for the remainder of the bike. I started ok as the course opens with several rolling hills but then I heard the hiss and pulled over. I was thankful it was my from wheel/tire and not my rear. I was lucky to get the tube off quickly and the new on wasn't too bad either. However, I use a small hand pump and this was tricky at first. The other races passing by, more frustration, were asking if I was ok which was nice but I eventually had it fixed. From there on, I was concerned because the amount about getting apothem flat with no tubes left (this happened to me in DC) and biking on a new tube at only (and this is a guess) 95-100 pounds of pressure which is not where I want to be on this course. Anyway, I continued on and made up some time after the last brutal hill. I finished in 1:24 (unofficially) without the stoppage so was just on par with last year. If this had not occurred, I'm thinking I would have been closer to 118/120.

Not get a flat:). It is what it is and happens to everyone at one time or another. I wondering if it has to do with my tires as I have the new Michelin P4's which could be an issue as the P3's were known for getting flat's easily from what I have read (Note: I only had three flats on my P3's over the course of many miles but two to date on the P4's in 3 months). I think I lost a total of 20 mins or so with the changing of my tire so that time has to improve.

Faster then T1 and felt more motivated coming into T2. My run off the bike was solid and then I quickly took off to the run.

Nothing really this time. The downhill coming into Transition was a plus.

I started out strong and did well for the first 3 miles. Then I slowed down slightly over the next 1.5 miles as my legs and shoulders were sore and my HR was rising. I took off on mile 5 buy slowed again just before I finished. Much better then Columbia and considering what happened with the flat and frustration, I was ok with the effort.

Add more miles to my training regime in order to lower my avg pace.

Drank water and packed up with gear to my car. Came back to check the results which were just totals and no breakdown, at some pizza, and left.


Flat tire and an average run.


Good race, challenging bike and great swimming venue as it's the nicest place to swim for any Tri. The post race activities and food were not as good this year compared to others. The food in general was limited which seems to be a problem with most Tri's.