Buffalo Triathlon - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic

I thought the swim went well. I accidentally hit a couple of people who either stopped swimming completely to sight, or they were doing the breast stroke. I felt bad for both parties involved. I was right on line the whole swim, which is rather unusual for me. After the fact, I am a bit dissappointed with my time. Just need to swim more often.

Just need to swim more often.

Tucked a GU under the leg of my tri shorts for later. Only to find I lost it on the bike course somewhere.

Bike course was crowded where the sprint and oly distances shared the course. Lots of people riding more to the left than where they should be riding. Which puts me out in the lane of traffic often. Once the Oly course turned off, it was time to pin the ears back and hit it. Loved it... the new Shiv was really stable in the slight cross winds. Shiv hydration system needs some tweaks, as I was not able to hydrate sufficiently while riding. I had a couple of air bubbles in my stomach that just would not move while riding.

Hydration system needs work.

No rhythm to T2... Grabbed a second GU and 3 Ecaps down the hatch.

Practice, practice, practice.

I ran out of T2 with a GU in hand, and ran to the first aid station with water. Ate it and washed it down with a cup of H2O. Shortly there after, severe side ache. This is exactly what happened last year! Dang! I ran for a while, and while going up The Hill I had to pull over and get it under control. I was really bummed that I was not able to RUN like I'm capable. Walked a couple times up the hill, as it hurt pretty bad. Hard to run through that kind of pain. Turn around and head home. Side ache started to subside. Got passed by some dudes who were RUNNING! Cheered them on as they went by. Dang. Finally the pain subsided enough to really run, picked up the pace for the last 1.5 miles. Passed a guy in my age group, and thought okay time to finish this thing and picked up the pace for the last .5 mile. Then just as I was entering the park, that guy in my AG passed me back. My first thought was, "He got me". Then I realized that, I'm not really tired and how it's not fair to myself to let him have it when I'm fully capable of KICKIN the door in right now. So I did just that. Like Chuck Norris, I kicked the door and sprinted it in. I felt like a dork for doing it, but it's a race and my legs were up for it. Side ache? Yeah I would worry about that after the finish line.

Get rid of air bubbles while on the bike.

Awesome volunteers... Great race if you can deal with the large volume of athletes on the sometimes tight course.