Pittsburgh Triathlon - International Distance - TriathlonOlympic

I brought my wetsuit just in case and was one of the few with one on.

I consider myself a decent swimmer and figured I would be able to keep up with some faster swimmers without wetsuits. This was the case and there was aggressive, competitive contact all the way to the first turn buoy. The downstream current was strong and I turned in a very fast swim for me, breaking last year's time (w/o wetsuit) by almost 6 minutes.

I was excited on the way back as someone drafted off me almost the whole way. I've never been that good to be worth drafting off of! I was however humbled at how good some folks are, as there were plenty without wetsuits that still beat me!

I pushed it hard at the start and felt like I hit a wall before the turn buoy, so I need to practice a strong start more. My sighting on the way back was not as good and I was far to the left for a while. It was odd, I felt so slow the whole time but managed to turn in a really good time for me. So, I guess I just need to keep training to get even faster.

I had trimmed about a half inch off the legs of my wetsuit since they always got stuck on my heels. This worked as I was able to pop my legs out. The bike rack bar was low and I had to tilt my bike to get it out, wasting a few seconds.

Not much. The low bike rack bar is beyond my control.

This was my best bike performance of any race. Pushed hard on the uphills, hammered downhill. Didn't care about anything my computer said except cadence and otherwise worked my legs as hard as they would let me. I'm getting more comfortable with fast speeds downhill and this was the first time in the aero position all the way downhill in Pittsburgh! I also have finally figured out the course so that I don't hit any rumble strips.

I took a Gu Roctane at the start of each loop and drank most of my two bottles of water throughout the leg.

Keep training and get better at hills.

Good T2 for me. I don't know how to pop out of my bike shoes yet and flew past three men doing this before the last turn towards the dismount line. The ground was muddy so the cleat sank in the ground and allowed me to run full speed. This ended up being faster than those guys anyway. Again the low bike rack bar made the racking process take a few extra seconds than it should have.

Nothing. I hope they make the bike rack bars a bit higher next year.

This was a great run for me. One month earlier at the Philadelphia Insurance Olympic distance tri I wanted to break 50 minutes and came close at 50:32. This time I was determined to break it.

First mile was about 8 minutes, second mile a little slower. Then I picked it up and negative splitted my run. I walked a few steps through the first aid station to properly wash down a Gu Roctane, but ran the rest of the time and even skipped the last (mile 5) aid station.

On the back leg I kept spotting a runner in front of me, setting my sights and chasing him down. Three runners in a row were also in my age group! I finished by waving my arms to pump up the crowd as I crossed the finish line!

Nothing. I broke my goal of 50 minutes on the run. I can only keep training to get faster.

Grabbed my medal, water, and waited for my brother to finish with his own Pittsburgh course PR. Grabbed some food, went to brother's house for a shower, and then drove home to Ashburn, VA.


I am extremely happy with my race but more training will of course produce faster times. I wanted at first to break 2:39:00 and then pushed for breaking 2:35:00 when I learned the race was wetsuit legal. 2:31:47 was a great time for me and now I want to break 2:30:00 next year, with or without wetsuit!


This is an annual event for my brother and me. I especially liked that the Sprint was done on Saturday, which made the course less crowded on Sunday. The swim start was a bit late, but I really appreciate the free parking for the race, which cut down the lines for parking. Overall it was well done this year and I'll be back.