Memphis in May - TriathlonOlympic

Well I improved my swim by about 10 minutes from my first OLY so that made me pretty happy. However I still have some problems. This was only my second open water swim and I am still having some problems with sighting. I think I am off course all the time, so I am always stopping to readjust. I know I could cut my time to 25min if I figured this out, as I felt like I had ton more energy and breathing was pretty good the whole time. The hardest part of the swim was a TNT wrist band that I was wearing that sliced the side of my right rist open. Everytime I turned my wrist during the swim it would cut a little more. That made for a long swim.

Learn how to draft, sight better, and be more aggressive. Also if doing another TNT event, make sure all wrist bands are behind my watch on the wrist.

Got the wetsuit down to the waist just fine, took me a little longer to step out of it though. Put my TNT top on (I have a tri-suit for other races, socks, than bike shoes. Grabbed the bike and headed out of transition. This is a new bike and I am still not 100% used to the angles on it and got caught up in the moment and nearly fell trying to clip in. After I took care of that embarrising moment it was off to the races.

Nothing much different to do other than get a little more comfortable clipping in to the bike. I will not ride or run with out socks so that will not change. (I am too slow for the extra 40 seconds in transition I could cut to help me out)

Biking is my favorite part and the new K-factor did not let me down. I stayed pretty aero for the whole ride. I passed a whole lot of people. Overall I improved my average pace on the bike by OVER 3 MPH!!!!!! However I might have pushed a little too hard as I came to find out on the run. My legs felt fine and I thought I could have went a little harder. I stayed in the big ring the whole time (compact crank 50 ring). I sucked down a couple bottles of Gatorade Endurance, which is not what I usually drink but have trained with before. I usually would drink Cytomax but did not have room to pack the can with me. About 20 minutes into the bike I sucked down another GU pack. Did have one person who passed me tell me that I needed to get over, but I was in the middle of passing a person who started sprinting on me the moment he saw I my bike start to pass him, so I had to drop back or risk burning up my legs. I passed him shortly after but not before I was made to be the badguy for someone else not following the rules of droping back.

Train, train, train, and train some more. First time racing with the new bike and only have 150 miles on it so there is still some learing to do. Practice my cornering to try to keep a higher speed.

Not much to say, I hopped off the bike and started running.

Might try the feet on top of shoes thing even though I wear socks. Might also consider wearing some sort of hat next time also.

My run sucked. In traing I run faster this, and I do run hills. I think the temperature played into this some as I have not had the high temperatures to train in. About 1/2 mile into the run my vastus medialis muscle (upper leg next to inside of knee) started to lock up on me. I don't think it was cramping as even today I still have some pain. I believe it was more of a lactic acid issue. I took in Gatorade at every aid station and started to feel bloated (ohh lord i sound like girl, no offense meant to the ladies on the board) needless to say I do not want to drink anymore Gatorade and probably had too much to drink. I felt like I had more energy left in the tank and if I did not have the muscle problem would have ran the whole thing. But with my legs on fire I had to stop and walk every 4th of a mile.

Try build some more endurance in my leg muscles, more bricks, more time trials, and actually doing leg work for once in the Gym instead of upper body.

Well warm down was not the best as my fiance who was already waiting for me at the finish line took me to the TNT checkout tent. She posted a time better than mine by over 20 minutes, and said she knew she could go faster but had never raced that distance before and was not sure how to pace herself. From training I am sure when she gets more speed work in and figures her pace she can drop 20 more minutes and place in her age group (ex college runner.) Both legs locked completely up and I wanted to yell expletives at the hill I had to climb to get to the tent. Luckily she pulled me up it and got me in line for food.


The heat and the fact that I need to train more.


I loved the race and would do it again. I think I will put in more consistent training next time. Overall I really can't complain as this was a harder race than my first OLY (Clermont Florida) and I bettered my PR by about 24 minutes.