Steelman Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Horrible, Horrible Swim. I was a dumb butt and thought that I could swim with the big boys so I got near the front. Within my first 2 strokes, I was hit in the head and my right goggle shifted. Good thing for me that I've got Aqua Sphere's!! Only a couple of drops of water got in and they resealed nicely. I was getting grabbed and pulled for the first 100 meters. Now I'll learn to not think I'm better than real swimmers. I couldn't spot a single buoy for most of the way out. I had to use the others swimmers as my guide. This was not good considering that most other people were having the same issue as I was. The buoys lined right up with the rising sun.

The RD said at the start, "You go out past 2 buoys and you'll see a large turn buoy, that is for the Sprint. Keep going and you'll turn at the 4th buoy. When I get to the 4th buoy, I stopped short because some people kept going. I actually had about a 30 seconds conversation with 2 other swimmers (1 on my heels) as to if this was the turn or not. It went, "Is this the turn, he said 4, I don't know, what do you think?" Then I glaced up and caught sight of another buoy farther down and said, I see another buoy and we headed out.

Once I got around the "turn buoy" then I had another issue. Now I see a line of buoy's to my right (ones we came up) and I think I see some to my left. It was a triangle course with the buoys near each other at the point. So I just picked out the buoy's on the "other side" of the penninsula and headed out. It wasn't until this point that I actually got into a groove swimming. I had breathing issues, confusion issues and had a plain bad swim on the front half. Once I got into my groove, I was able to work on my pull and get into my 3-2 breathing stroke. I stared to pass people after that. AND...I had some bastard touching my feet every 3-4 strokes the entire way back. Now I take it as a compliment if you're drafting off me, but stay off my FEET!! At least he didn't try to pass me in the last 100 meters after drafting on me the whole way back.

Random moment on the swim: I saw a yellow cap come up along my left and I thought...man they're 3 min behind me. I'll latch onto him. I kid you not this person had to have a moter attached. He passed me in 3 strokes and I never had a chance to catch his feet. NOT that I would have been able to hold on! I just thought...Damn.


Start farther back in the swim pack and buy some tinted goggles. Swim my own race and not get outside myself. Especially for a "C" race!

I pulled a James again. I felt like I had a horrible transistion, but the time said it was ok. I could have taken off 30-40 seconds because I got my jersey stuck over my head and I had to put my HR monitor on (1st time trying this) because I swam without a shirt. I basically took my time because I was so mad about the swim. I was really looking for the Domino's guy to bring me my pie.

Oh...and I forgot to take my protective covers off of my look platforms (on my shoes). I noticed it as I was putting on my shoes. But I took the right one off and then forgot about the left until I was at the end of my rack. I tossed back towards my stuff. I found it later a rack away.



Practice swimming with my Tri Jersey. I haven't even tried to see if it drags me or not. Practice T1!! I don't do this at all. It's my longest one and I don't practice. Bad Dan.

Again...the RD needs to learn the term uphill. My biggest problem was for the first uphill, I was messing with my watch trying to get it on the right setting for my bike! I was weaving, almost ran off the road playing with my S625 and climbing! Then my HR monitor decided I didn't have a Heartbeat, so I had to reset it again. Then I was 1/2 mile into the race and done with the first climb. I could have totally taken a minute off my bike time.

It took me about 6 miles before my HR came down below LT (154 is my current LT). I don't know what the deal way, but it was a rough start for me. I was suppose to treat this as a TT and pretend that I did not have to run after wards. I did that for about 80% of the time. The 20% I didn't was when I saw my HR well above LT and got a bit nervous. Then I said, to Hell with it, I'm going to smash this out of the park. I passed a fair number of people on the bike and felt great overall.

I could feel the 3 hr 50+ mile ride I had the day before as my legs started to complain about the effort. But I tried to get it out of my head and just keep pushing like a TT. I took a gel at mile 5 and 15 and had some serious issues keeping it down. Probably because I was so close to my LT. I didn't want to take it, but I knew I had to.

Random cool thing for me mentally: My coach told me to put something on my shifters to remind myself that this season is for Team USA and not for the race at hand. So for the last 2 climbs when I was really hurting, I kept rubbing the bar endshifter and repeated, "This is for Canberra, Team USA"...Next thing I know, I was calm and at the top of the climb.

Funny moment: As I passed the entrance to the park going for my second loop, I saw the head race official in a red car standing there. I pointed at him and said really loudly, "I'll be right back!" He laughed. Then when I was passing the bike official, I asked him if I could draft off him, he said, "No, but you can pass me on the right". I said, "Ok...Thanks!".

I would push a bit harder. I missed having a top 10 overall bike split by 2 seconds. Plus I think I need to not play with my watch!

Since it was a 'C' race, things went well. I did well coming off of a good 11 hr training week.

T2 went like clockwork. I actually was out of T2 and wondered if I forgot something. I did end up putting my race number on upside down. I didn't realize it until like mile 5 when I looked down. I just held it so the finish line guy could see it at the finish line.

Nothing really. I do need to get gloves with velcro for racing. I lost my glove at T1 and a guy noted it and handed it to me. I had to ride down the last hill holding them in my hand because I took them off.

I never pushed on the run. I spent the first 3 miles trying not to puke up the gel that I had taken on the bike. That was at mile 15!! After I was sure that it was going to stay down, I just plodded along because I could feel the Lactic Acid building up in my legs. I think I ran an even race and was pleased that I could clip off 7:15 off a hard bike and a build week.

I was going to originally let me body dictate the 1st half and then push the second half, but somewhere I changed my mind. When I had a half mile to go, I saw that there was no one behind me to catch me and I didn't care about "Mr.Elite, I cut the run course but I'm sponsored boy" anymore I just cruised in.

I was looking for Nancy because I thought that she was going to cross the line with me, but I didn't see her until I finished. Oh well, Next race!

Push more on the run. I need to learn to suffer more in all aspect of my race. I had tons of energy when I finshed, I need to leave it on the course.

I would have sprinted up to "Mr. Elite" and tripped him for cutting the run course by at least a 1/3 mile.

Got a cold towel and sat down for a bit. My HR didn't come down to 100 for about 45 min! I was a bit concerned about that. Normally, even after a hard tempo run for me, I'm below 100 bpm within 1-2 min.


Paying attention to the course. I didn't really research this course very well. Knowing the swim course and not starting out in the front would have saved me a couple of min.

Playing with my watch cost me another min at least on the bike.

Overall, I was pleased. I PR'd by 10 min! And as far as I'm concerned, I placed top 10 overall.


The Race itself was good. Had a closed course for the bike, lots of officals on the bike, but none that I saw on the run. Lots of give-aways and lots of food afterwards.

The sweatshirt that you got with your race packet...LORD! I think a homeless mass in Boston in January would have turned it down. It was hideous. I think if you want people to promote your race by wearing your race shirt and having people ask about it, make it so that they WANT to wear it.