West Point Lake Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

The start was time trial style. We lined up behind the swim start line in race number order. They let two start every 5 seconds. This was VERY nice...virtually no running into bodies throughout the entire swim. My new AquaSphere Swim Mask worked very well. No leakage and I could see really well while sighting. Other than my performance, it was all good. That swim zapped a good bit of the energy I had for this race.

Need MUCH more OWS practice. I'm finding this is SO much different than pool swimming. My body is just not conditioned for it.

I was so winded from the swim, it took me forever to get my shoes clipped into my pedals. This was not good, as the start was on an incline. Everything else was fine. Should have taken in some more nutrition at this point, though. All I did was take a couple bites out of an apple.

Get my body accustomed to sources of energy/nutrition that can be consumed quickly.

I was dissappointed with how I felt from the beginning. The swim took a lot out of me and I'd never experienced starting a bike ride worn out already. Then my butt was hurting pretty much the whole way (combination of being in the car all day yesterday and the slim Tri-Short padding). I had good strength in my legs for the short hills, especially if I could stay in the aerobar position. Some of the longer hills got to me though.

Probably skip the bike warmup. I also need to do some more swim/bike bricks.

Decided I'd take my time in T2, to see if I could get some energy to run. Drank some Gatorade and took a couple bites out of a Cliff Bar. Mostly a good transition.

Nothing I can think of...unless there's a way to magically get some immediate energy at this point.

Other than, "I sucked", I'm not sure what else to say. Actually, I was feeling good the first two miles. After that, I was toast. Just couldn't get my legs moving.

Maybe skip the run warmup as well. Longer bike/run bricks. A race simulation the week before race week.

Headed straight to the food. Tried to stay standing/walking around for as long as possible. Signed up for a massage (unfortunately, I didn't get called before the award ceremony when they quit).

Got my stuff out of the transition area and headed to the van. I observed that triathletes (including myself) are really good at carrying a ton of stuff while riding their bike back to their car. I had a bucket full of my stuff hanging on one brake hood and a medium sized cooler hung on the other. I think I could have counted then number of steps I took the "safe" way on one hand before I decided to give that a try. It worked just fine. Of course, the smart guys had tri-bags.

I wasn't expecting to be so winded after the swim. And my body did NOT want to run after the bike.

The volunteers were awesome, of course. And the number and locations of aid/water stations on the run course were perfect. The bike course was well marked. The swim course could have been better. Apparently yesterday's weather (intermittent rain) hindered a better setup??? I wasn't able to see the buoys until I was approaching the first right turn. And then, on the way back, there were two (I think) sections where we were supposed to swim in about 2' of water. Several people just got up and walked. I just stayed horizontal and pushed off the bottom of the lake.

And I was dissappointed to not get a massage. I guess I'll just have to finish faster next time so I can sign up higher on the list. The award ceremony was kind of sad...they did it in the middle of a field and the announcer didn't have any amplification.

Still, a good and well organized race. And though I was dissappointed with my performance, I feel like it was a great accomplishment. I learned quite a bit from my first Olympic distance triathlon. I'm glad I made it under 3 hours. In a few days, I'll be looking forward to doing better at this race next year.