Age Group National Championship - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

I really tried to take it easy on the swim and I think I did OK. I didn't get winded much at all and sighted reasonably well, although I got off course a few times. I was mistaking the "out" buoys for the "in" buoys. the hardest part of the swim was getting up the steep ramp to get out of the water. When coming to the exit point, I was wondering why there were so many volunteers on the ramp. They were helping pull people up the ramp. Without help, I probably would have crawled up the ramp. I appreciated the help.

I think in hind sight with better sighting a pushing a bit more, I could have done 1:33/100 pace without too much additional effort.

I did OK getting from the water to my bike, but then I screwed up. I got my wetsuit off and shoes on OK and I had a sip of water. I then proceeded to run with my bike but had neglected to take my helmet! What an idiot! Fortunately, I hadn't gotten very far, but I probably lost 30 seconds, anyway. I was feeling pretty good and running well with my bike. It was quite a ways from the water to the transition area.

Put my helmet on!

I had a electrolyte capsule before the run and drank a bit of water. My goal was to tray and keep up a reasonable pace without getting my HR too high. I stayed pretty much in zone 4, but was creeping into zone 5 towards the end. I pushed up the last hill, getting my HR up but I also passed lots of people. Generally, I pushed on the uphills, and tried to recover on the flats and downhills. Since I[m not that aero on my bike, it seemed like I was better on the uphills. Hitting a max HR of 160 in the lat mile was probably a bit much ((above zone 5.0), but I felt OK. During the ride I drank 24 oz of Perform and probably 6-8 oz of water. This felt like a good amount.

I need to get stronger on the bike this winter. To be more competitive, I'd like to average 22's instead of 20's and 21's. As it was, I averaged over 21 mph, which was good for me.

I did a good job jumping off the bike with my shoes off and felt strong running into transition. I got running stuff on without incident and ran fairly strong out of transition.

Nothing.

I started out keeping a steady pace with my HR in zone 3. I slowed a bit for miles 3 and 4, but was still going at a reasonable pace. The last couple miles I picked up the pace by alternating running steady and "checking out," by picking up the pace. I alternated this about every 30 seconds and this helped me to maintain a significantly higher average pace. This was something I used to do on some 4 mile time trials back in high school. This was my fastest run time for any triathlon by 13 seconds per mile. By the end my HR was way up there, but I felt good.

One thing I noticed was that I was carrying more weight than others in my age group. I think if I could lose 10-15 lbs (which is very possible) I could get faster for all 3 events. Now I need to figure out how to eat less pizza and drink less beer.

I was surprised how good I felt after this race. I think getting enough fluids and taking the electrolyte supplements bot helped. I didn't do any stretching, but walked around and got a jacket out of my car to keep warm. The 2XU top & shorts I bought for this race definitely kept me cooler during the race, but too cold afterward. I made the mistake of not getting a bottle of Gatorade at the finish and only drinking the bottle of water i was given. Once out of the shoot, there was nothing to drink, which I thought was poor. The post-race meal was not to my liking and there was nothing to drink with the lunch. I sat around for about an hour to hour and a half waiting to get my bike. Once i got the bike, I drove to my Niece and her husbands house, took a nap for an hour, and then made the 5 hour drive back to Fort Wayne.


I need to lose a few pounds and get over my hamstring issues. This limited my training. I can't complain about any of the events, as my swim and bike times were good and I hd a PR on the run, with the fastest miles the last 2.


The race was put on well, but it's just hectic with that many people. If it had been warmer, the start would have been a real pain for the later waves. It would have been nice to have more to drink at the finish, but overall, they did a nice job. Not being able to have my transition bag in transition due to security concerns was a pain. I suppose this is the way of the future.
I realize what I've been doing with my 910XT, I was going to mulitsport and hitting the start button. I needed to hit the enter button to get to multisport and THEN hit start. I should have checked this before the race but I forgot.