Rumpus in Bumpass International - TriathlonOlympic

This was my first race of the year and despite telling myself I would train this past winter, I didn't start until maybe early March.

Nevertheless, I set out to do a strong swim while maintaining my breathing and not over-exerting myself. I had never drafted in the swim before and gave it my best shot. Most of the time I was unsuccessful as the people in front always seemed too fast to keep up with at my pace.

I passed a few from the earlier waves and also got passed by those after me. Once again, I sighted the buoys so well that I literally ran right into half of them!

In the end, I PRed my swim among all the Olympic distance races I've done!

Train more, start training earlier. Lift weights. Get to the race sooner so I'm less panicked.

Despite my rushed job at setting up my transition area, everything was pretty well laid out. Tri-Slide spray before the swim helped with my wetsuit at the heels, but it still got stuck a bit.

Maybe learn how to mount the bike with the shoes already clipped in?

Clearly the bike is not my strong suit. It also didn't help that I only had four rides this year with the longest being about 24 miles.

I tried to maintain the same cadence throughout the race and not worry about mashing any portions of the course. As with all my bike legs, I got passed by everyone, men and women, 15 year olds and 50+ year olds. I literally counted on one hand how many people I actually passed.

My nutrition was water and a couple Gu gels.

Train!! Longer rides and more often.

It also would help for me to get a new bike. I have an aluminum frame K2 tri bike that I bought in 2007. I didn't have aero wheels or anything else special for this race. But the biggest helper for me would be more training. That said, 17.4 mph is high for me amongst my prior Olympic distance races.

I thought I did well in T2 but placed 318 overall out of 718. Although, I took a moment to spray more sunscreen on, as I also did in T1. I foolishly skipped sunscreen at the Rumpass Sprint last year and still have a "4" from that race number sunburned into my left shoulder.

Go faster somehow.

I was disappointed in my run. This is usually where I catch many of those who flew past me on the bike. I place much of the blame on the course. If I had known the course was as bad as it was, I would have bought and worn trail shoes instead of the lightweight racers I had on. I spent more energy and focus trying not to roll my ankles than executing a good run.

The dusty conditions also dried my nose and throat very quickly. Drinking too much makes the stomach uneasy so water at the aid stations was mostly used to rinse my mouth out and pour on my head to keep cool.

As I neared the finish, I let out a loud sigh of relief. A fellow racer, whom I had not noticed was right behind me, said "almost there!" Instead of taking it as the encouragement it was meant to be, my natural instinctive reaction was to sprint as fast as I could so that noone else would pass me to the finish. Afterwards I thought 1) where did that sprint come from, 2) did that sprint mean I could have pushed the run harder, and finally 3) I felt like an idiot for reacting the way I did! I meant no offense buddy!

The common theme here is train more! Despite being the second fastest mile average among all my previous Olympic distance races, I had higher expectations for myself.

Drank water, coke, gatorade, ate the free food and then met my buddy at his team's tent for more food and beer.

Didn't stretch enough.


Insufficient training. Rocky/gravel run course.


I know the last minute location change was out of SetUp Events' control, but I really didn't care for that run course.

Considering the bike course was shortened to 23 miles, I PRed my Olympic distance race! If the bike was the normal 24 miles, I would have had a close second-best time.