Old Colony YMCA Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I start going hard for 200 mts until I got punched on the lip/nose. I stopped for a few seconds and notice that my lip was bleeding, and start laughing, and kept swimming. It was sunny so going out it was kind of hard to navigate. After I rounded the 1st buoy I began to swim more comfortable and passing people. Ion de middle of the swim I had and “aha” moment. Anytime I was focusing on my stroke, swimming long with a flutter kick and propelling myself strong I could gain speed but that would throw me of course VERY fast. I had to keep looking for the buoys to swim straight and that was interrupting my rhythm and slowing me down. Hence, I need to do A LOT of more OWS to improve and been able to deliver fast times like in the pool.

Nothing really, I am pleased with the swim, but I need to practice the OW swim more.

The transition times is a bit longer cuz we had to run and round the T area after the swim, and then run on dirt/trail before been able to get to the road and mount.

Pretty much FLAT all the way! A few tinny hills and some wind but noting bad at all. There was a bit of traffic as the course was a 4 loop and we began catching the rest of the field on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th loop. I got caught with another 3 guys which were riding at my same speed and that was cool cuz we kept pushing each other forcing the pace as we had to pass each other, fell out of the draft zone and then push again to re-pass. I felt I was working hard but never TOO hard. In the 2nd loop I was cruising at a nice rhythm, and even though originally I was planning to push all out in the bike I figured I could post a fast split time and still have some energy for a good run, so I just sat at my 24+ mph and began working on hydration and nutrition. It was very hot but more it was muggy as hell and you could feel it when breathing hard. I new I had to be smart nutrition wise if I want to post a good run, so I made sure to drink my whole Gatorade bottle, I ate a gel 30 min into the ride and decided to take 5 endurolytes 5 min before getting back to transition. I followed the plan and 5 min before I took the endurolytes out of my back pocket and rip the little bag I placed apart to take it and 3 out of the 5 felt into the ground (mother fffFFERR!!!) That’s one of the reasons I don’t like endurolytes it is just not easy to carry it around. (Next time I’ll get back to my salt tablets) Anyway, I took the other two and began questioning if that would hurt me later as last season I always cramped on the run in particular during hot days. Right before getting to T area I saw Mike Ciazzo getting into the running course with like 2-3 min advanatge (and it was expected), but no one else! I began getting excited cuz I new I was close to the top places...

Bring my salt tablets :)

As soon as I came out of T area I asked in what place I was and they told me I was like 5-6 guys behind. I ran scenarios very fast in my mind and I realized if I could post a good run I could get away with 3rd place overall maybe 2nd depending how far Tim Snow was. There was no chance in hell I could catch mike Ciazzo though ;) I was pushing a bit hard but I had no idea what was really my pace because of the lack of mile markers and my HR was just totally screw up. According to my monitors my HR avg was 81, so I had to run only by PE but since it was hot as hell I was sort of in the dark as I didn’t know whether to sat in that pace and cruise or push harder. Anyway I kept going and passed a few guys (from team relays) and saw 2 guys ahead of me, all of the sudden some spectator told, “you are 5th dude”, but not to far from the 3rd! Those guys ahead were the ones I need to catch. I kept pushing and finally pass one and was relay team, WTF? Oh well kept running and pass 1 guy but he was 45yo, so I was ahead of him anyway cuz we started on the wave behind. I figured maybe I was already 3rd so I slowed down a bit as I could feel that a cramp was on its way on my left leg and since I had 25 min into the run I was like 8-10 min away from finishing. I kept getting water on the aid stations but it wasn’t helping the cramp situation, all of the sudden I saw 2 dudes ahead of me and a guy on bike tells me that I am sitting 4th. WFT? I was so confused it was not even funny so I just put my head down and began pushing as hard as I could sustain, I passed one guy and he was 40, jeezzz! Kept going and rally the other dude down (he was 29 yo) so by my calculations I was 3rd by then. I got to the last turn and I guy catched up with me and looking good, but I managed to keep up with him and in fact I began pushing the pace and we are cruising along and I gained on him. We got to the final strectch like ¼ mile away from the finish line and we are told we are battling for 3rd place so we both kept pushing the pace. For sure this was going to come down to the final kick at the finish line, how exciting! ;) I let him take the lead and I just sat behind him, to maybe trick him to think I was fading away and surprise him in the final meters; we were getting close to the turn into the park as we were like 200 Yd from it and all of the sudden disaster. Left hammy cramps like a mother ffFFEERR. I was force to stop as I couldn’t bend my leg at all. Two kids are just right there looking at me and one told me: “you have to eat those bananas!” (Me thinking in side, jeezz you think Einstein ;)) oh no I am tying to stretch it out and keep running but nothing. Dude ahead of me is gaining a lot and I turn back and the 4th place I passed a few min ago is gaining on me, F*CK!!! He catches me and in a very cool sportsmanship demonstration he yells at me: “COME ONE you should be ahead in 3rd place, let’s go!” I managed to resume a limp/fast walk but I can’t bend my leg so I was sort of running limping. I turn into the final stretch and I could bend my leg a bit so I keep pushing until all of the sudden I was sort of running again so I kicked as fast as I could and sprint to the finish and just came short to catch the 4th place again by 2 seconds…

bring my salt tablets with me like in FL 70.3 as I have yet to cramp when using those...
I calculated I could have ran a 38 min for a 5:50pace per mile without the time I lost with the cramp

massage to stretch that freaking cramp that was hurting a lot.


electrolytes intake


Overall I am happy with the results. I came here shooting for a 5th place overall consider I could have a terrific race or a 10th place with an ok race. I could have finish 3rd or 4th at the most and I know I only lost it to a cramp and not to a bad performance. Yes it is part of the game so I am not complaining or diminishing what the 3rd and 4th places did. They beat me and that’s that… the best part of this is that even when the race wasn’t a true Oly distance based on the proportions of each leg it evens out and I finished under 2:00hrs which qualifies me to apply for my Elite credential! A few months ago I was obsessed to accomplish this and expecting not to reach that goal until next year. Yesterday it was the last thing I had on my mind and it happened :) The only thing I wanted was to go out there, have fun and push as hard as possible and play with Mike, Tim, and the other fast dudes on the course…