Sylvania Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

At least half of the wave had wetsuits. I started at the front and was in front for about 200 yards then I was engulfed and passed by a sea of black neoprene. I felt fine as far as my stroke but I was all zig zaggy. I couldnt seem to swim straight. I swam this race in about 26 minutes last year. My swim volume is way down but I think it was my direction that killed me. The overall winner went 19 minutes last year and 19 again this year so I think the course length was correct. This was just a bad swim magnified by the fact many people had wetsuits on vs none last year.

get off my high horse and wear a wet suit and HR monitor and a garmin (just kidding - how about swim straight)

transition was moved a little this year. It was a little further from the beach. It also had a 0.25 mile section of bike out with no passing allowed.

nothing went fine

was shooting for last year's record of 21mph. I wasnt really expecting 22mph. I will take the PR but I am not too sure about it. The course was changed slightly to take into account a local golf tourney. I had ripped my bike computer off my bike a week before so I dont know if the course measured true. My age group was the last wave. As such I had plenty of draft legal chances on the out leg. I just kept hearing Cal Naughton, Jr cackling " Slingshot" and Ricky Bobby saying "Slingshot engaged". I had plenty of people to ride up on , draft legally and whip around. The whole first half of the course was into the wind so it helped cut the wind a bit. The people had thinned out a bit on the back end. Overall it was nice a cool and I felt good the whole way.


Cant say too much since I did set a PR. The overall winner posted a 25mph last year. He nailed 27mph this year so I think conditions (course length/wind) were very good.

didnt do a flying dismount because I hadnt practiced it.

on the bright side this was the fastest I have gone this year in the Olympic distance. I was felt really good until about 4 miles but then just felt slow after that point. Did not finish well. The down side is that this is slower than I ran last year.

Not much , didnt drink or eat anything on the run course. Maybe a gel around mile one might help me finished better.

drank a few beers at the beer truck ( hope you enjoy your Heed and water at your race cause this is better )


my piggishness about wearing a wetsuit at this race. Could have smashed my PR at the OLY distance. I developed a cold which stopped all training (and sleeping) on Thursday. Also packed for vacation at the same time. Kinda stressful right up until race time. Did not know if I could do the race until Sunday AM. Overall considering the cold and low bike and swim training I was only off my PR at this distance (also set at this race ) by 10 seconds. Cant complain too much.



USAT Mideast Qualifier - Some really fast people ( multiple folks under 2 hours ) , very organized ( they will penalize you if you dont have your bike racked properly ) , draft officials on the course , a beer truck , catered awards lunch if you stick around.