Hammerhead Olympic Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Wow, 11 of 25 in the swim. I'm starting to get up there finally. I started in the back so I know I passed ALOT of people in the swim. As I went, I could see that I was leaving a bunch of people behind, and I even caught some people from two waves in front of me. I sighted great, the bouys were easy to see and I never went off course. The only time it was hard to see was on the final turn back towards shore since we were heading east at that point. The sun was in my eyes, it was hard to see where I was going, but somehow I was able to see the bouys in all that glare.

Nothing. Great swim. Just need to kick it up and get even faster!

The only thing that went wrong here was that the headband inside my helmet came loose. I tried to get it back in the right way but I was in such a rush that it never really got in there the right way. You can see that in the pictures. But other than that this T1 was good. The run to T1 from the water was quite long, we had to go all the way past the TA and go in from the far side. After getting ready and unracking the bike, I gulped some HEED, made sure I had everything I needed and off I went.

Make sure my helmet is all up to spec before the race.

OK, so now I know my bike makes a difference. I wasn't last in my AG on the bike. Usually I lose alot of places on the bike and have to make them up on the run. But I only lost 6 places here. Good deal! On the first loop I saw Christine (Lucy), she was about to eat a gel, so I just waved as I passed. As I was heading down the first big hill at about 30mph (that was fun) I saw Tanya (tbctbc) and I screamed her name. She was feelin' the hills at that point so she could only say "go go go!". LOL

My bike performed well, felt really stable and stiff, components felt so smooth! Shifters worked great, no click click click from the rear derailleur like last week, I felt powerful thru the whole first loop. The hills got me on the second loop though, they were pretty crazy.

Train more for hill work. Hard to do around here. Clearwater bridges perhaps?

Easy T2. Just racked the bike, kicked off the shoes, put on my race number belt, and threw on my running shoes. I swigged a bunch of HEED before I left and took off.

Nothing.

This run totally KICKED MY A$$. No two ways about it. My first mile was ok, but after that I started coming down. I saw Matt (Tanya's hubby...Tanya being TBCTBC) who was already at Mile 4 when I was just passing mile 2. By mile 3, I was spent. At mile 3, there was a gradual incline that lasted pretty much the whole mile. I took water at both ends of this hill. As I was rounding the corner I saw Kendall just coming off what I was about to see. At mile 4, there it was. This big straight up (it seemed) hill. I never once stopped to walk on this course, but on that big hill, I swear I could've walked faster. I'd been pacing this clydesdale guy most of the way thru and I thought, oh no, now I'm gonna pass him on this hill and I won't have a pacer anymore. Well holy crap...he just shot ahead of me! I caught him later on, but damn, he just worked the hill. I smiled at that. OK, so after that hill I'm thinking, it's over. I took two cups of water, and two cold sponges. But after coming down that big ass hill, there's one more incline...small, but still at that point I was so over the run, that even a 5 foot incline would have made me frown. After that last hill, that was it. No more hills for the last mile and a quarter. At the last water stop I took Gatorade in hopes that maybe it'd give me a burst of energy so I could sprint at the end. But even at the end, when I usually push it out and sprint to the finish, I couldn't even manage one more iota of strength to go faster. I had totally left it all out there. Came close to throwing up, but never did.

I guess there's really nothing I could do differently except not underestimate the power of this run course. It's been a long time since I've had my a$$ handed to me on a run, and this one really did.

I saw Kendall (KendallF) at the finish and he said "go under that shower tent thing"...it was a little white cabana thing with hoses sprinkling water. It was glorious! I had lots of gatorade and water. I met up with Terri at the finish line and she handed me my flip flops which I was so happy to put on. I had some Coke, a few sips of beer, and a lot more water after we sat down for a while. I checked my standings, and at that point I was 15th of 15 so I figured I was last. But it turned out later on that I was 16th of 25. Whew! No last place finishes this year.


My serious underestimation of the course, or the overestimation of my abilities. One of those.


This was a very very well-run race. I've been extremely satisfied with the way the Oly races have gone this year. Sarasota Sharks race was really well run. This one was the same. I do have one complaint though. There were NO medical personnel onsite. They had to make an announcement at one point because someone needed help. The only person available was a medically trained spectator that happened to be there. Later on, there was a more serious case and they had to call an ambulance from Clay County which was like 30 minutes away. Next year they need to have an ambulance ready, especially because it was so hot. It was almost 90 degrees by the time I was done.

But I absolutely can't wait to do this race again next year. Having the on-base housing was really great for getting ready and for after-race recovery. I really enjoyed the whole weekend and will definitely be back.