Great Buckeye Challenge - Mini (Olympic) Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I was kind of nervous at the start, I didn't get me goggles cleaned out like I usually do when I swim and one of my lenses started fogging up. I tried to clean it out at the last minute but it didn't work out so well. Started out at way to fast of a pace. After turning the first corner I tried to slow down and work on my stroke and try to get my breathing under control. During this time I got off course pretty severely, I want to blame it on the sun glare, fogging goggles, and partially deflated middle buoy on getting me off course though it was probably more my own fault if anything. I need to do more OWS and work on sighting. Once I got halfway through this side of the course I had a better sight of the buoy and swam a better course. After I made the turns around the far end of the course and started heading back I got way off course again not as bad as the first half of the race but still it cost me time. This swim did not go how I planned. I went out too fast and found it hard to get my technique down how I had it in during practice because I was just trying to get my heart rate down and get my breathing under control.

Try to take that first 200m a little bit more conservitive. Make sure I sight better and focus on form and keeping my legs up and just swimming like i know how to do.

I didn't have a great T1. I was a little flustered and fumbled a bit getting socks and shoes on in transition. Still pretty fast and wouldn't be able to cut down too much but not my best.

Practice more before hand just to avoid the small mistakes that take a second or two longer.

Before the race I had thought that if I could average 18mph that would be a pretty good day for me. However, to go almost 20mph that made up for what I felt was a bad swim. My plan was to push the first 14 miles or so a little bit since it was up hill slightly and then feel out the second half of the course which was most downhill except for two larger hills. This worked out really well, the first half even with a slight head wind at times seemed to go faster than I was really expecting. The first big hill was difficult but I just sat and spun my way up. The second big hill came after a fairly long downhill section and wasn't too bad. The rest was nice and fast with just some work on the uphills. At times I was a afraid I pushed it too hard on the bike and that it might come back to hurt my run.

Work on bike fit/saddle for more comfort.

As I came into the transistion zone I got slowed down by a pack of riders all coming in at the same time. There were some slower sprint racers that kind of clogged up the entrance and several other riders making it difficult to run into the transistion. This slowed me down in the last .25 mile of the bike and trying to run through the transistion zone.

Not much just try to avoid crowds if at all possible probably could have passed a few just before the dismount line if I pushed it.

Three weeks before I hit a new 10k pr with a 7:56 pace so I was aiming for 8:45 for this race. I ended up at 8:29 or so so I was real happy. I tried to keep fairly even effort through out until the two hills in the last mile. It took everything I had mentally to not stop and walk during the hill that hits right at the 6 mile mark. I pushed through it and finished strong. I got water at every aid station tried to take a sip but just ended up dumping most on my head. May have been getting a little thirsty by the end of the run.

Try to drink a little more water on the course especially in the sun like we had for the race. Overall I was very happy with keeping the run pace under 8:30 and wouldn't change much.

Walked around the finish line area. Drank some water and had some of the food at the finish line.


Poor swimming, poor sighting, going out too fast. I think swimming and biking I'll find my best performance gains so I need to work on technique in the swimming and just ride more and build a stronger engine.


This ended up being an awesome race for me. I made the podium in 2nd for my age group for the first time ever. I was exactly 2 minutes slower than first place and he really beat me with his bike otherwise we were fairly even. Even with a bad swim, I was almost 2mph faster on the bike than I had hoped for. On the run I would have been happy with anything less than 9:00 but sub 8:30 I thought would be a little bit of a stretch for me. Coming away from this race I really want to improve my swim and get those times down. I know I can swim faster, I just need to learn to execute my plan better when it comes time to race.