Rochesterfest Triathlon - Olympic Course - Triathlon

I started off near the back of the pack. Had to walk a little ways to give the people in front of me enough time to open up enough space to get horizontal. There were plenty of bodies near me on the first lap. No significant contact. I did a decent job at navigation. But I still tend to drift to the right. On the 2nd lap, I had much more room. The faster women started catching up on this lap.

I was able to stay in a good rhythm throughout with few exceptions. Overall I was pleased with how the swim went. I shaved a few minutes off of my last Oly swim.

Nothing really. No complaints.

There was a bit of a jog to get to the transition area. They had little kiddie pools to step into and get the sand off of your feet, which was nice.

My wet suit took a little extra work to get off of my legs. I also had a bit of a jog in my bike shoes to make it out of transition. The big thing that I goofed up on was forgetting to grab my sunglasses. Fortunately I didn't have anything hit my eyes and there was no rain. So it ended up not being too big of a deal.

Grab my sunglasses. Consider not being so gentle with my wet suit removal for faster times.

I may have pushed just a little bit harder than I should have on the bike. There were some decent climbs that took the wind out of your sails. Only one was bad enough to make me feel like I was having to push hard to make it up. It's more uphill than downhill on the way out.

I was optimistic that I could pick up a little time on the 2nd half since it was more down than up. But the wind became more of a factor on the 2nd half. I could tell that I was also tiring a bit and a really didn't want to push for fear of a horrible run. So the 2nd half took just a minute or so longer than the 1st.

Maybe dial it back just a smidge. More training would also help as well.

My rack was the first one into transition, so I didn't have to go far with the bike here. Transition was smooth and I was in and out in good time.

nothing.

I started off a little more tired than my last Oly run. But I was trying to take it easy. My first mile was somewhere around 9:20, which is on the faster end of my long slow runs. But I was hanging in there. I was definitely getting warm and sweaty and my HR was higher than I wanted. The weather was a little warm, which wasn't helping. But I was able to hang tough and run pretty much the entire thing. The only walking I did was at aid stations (I don't drink well when running) and up one short steep section.

I mainly get passed while running. But I was able to pass a few guys that passed me in the first 2 miles of the run by being able to run without random walking breaks. So that was an ego boost. One of the humbling moments was seeing a guy on his way back in as I was heading out around mile 2 or so who must have had at least 50 pounds on me. Good on him for having the fitness to to go that speed. Makes me want to go train more. If he can go that speed, there's no reason I can't get there and beyond at some point.

Just gotta keep training. I still ended up under an hour which is a pace that I'm happy with at the moment. I'm hoping that the heat was just masking my fitness gains a little bit.

I was pretty darn beat by the time that I crossed the finish. I definitely was running hot and my HR was high, even though I wasn't cruising fast the last mile or anything. I drank a bunch of water and sport drink and also poured water over my head to try to cool off a bit. It did help cool me down, but it also washed the massive amount of salt residue from my sweating into my eyes, which didn't feel the greatest.

Grabbed some food (a brat and some Cheetos) and sat down for a few minutes to eat them. They also had animal crackers available and bananas for food. Not sure if any other yummy stuff was there earlier and already picked through or not. They also had red bull, which I grabbed two of for the ride home to help make sure I didn't get too tired while driving.

I was definitely beat and tired and moving slow schlepping all of my stuff back to my car. They had already started awards when I was finishing and I missed door prizes. So I didn't stick around after finishing my food to hear the rest of the winners.


Training... I gotta do more of that. But I didn't make any significant mistakes that affected my time more than a minute or so.


I was happy with the race overall and would recommend it. I may do it again next year depending on my race schedule and the availability of other options closer to home.