Richmond Rox Olympic Triathlon - Triathlon

The water was the perfect temperature. We got to wear wetsuits without it being cold. It seemed to take some time to get into the groove because I didn't warm up enough. The swim didn't feel great (they usually don't for me), but I noticed only one guy from the wave behind me the entire swim. That' unusual for me. I also seemed to be passing a lot of swimmers from the collegiate wave ahead of me. It was very shallow at the turn around Gull Rock with some rocks nearly reaching the surface. Once I got in from the swim and saw 29 on my watch, I thought I was doing well.

Get a better warm up.

There were wetsuit strippers that helped remove wetsuits, which really helped with my wrist and shoulder injury (more below). It was a long run on carpet from swim exit to transition. I am really trying to speed up my transitions, especially for short races. I didn't dry my feet this time. They were wet and dirty, but I didn't want to take the time to clean them.

Keep working on speeding up transitions.

It seemed like I was going pretty hard and was passing a large number of collegiate athletes from the wave ahead of me. I know I lost a lot of time at the turn around because I actually stopped and unclipped. I was afraid of another crash (more below). I also had to deal with a loose left aerobar for the last 7ish miles. It made being in aero difficult. It was actually fairly slow ride. I need to be faster on the bike for Olympic distance races.

Work hard on the bike during the off-season. I need to be able to average over 20 consistenly.

Again, I'm working on faster transitions. I got my socks on pretty quickly this time. The route into transition required some bike carrying, as it was quick bumpy over old trolley tracks and cobblestones.

Keep working on getting faster in transitions.

I am very happy with this run. It is my fastest Oly run time and only 23 seconds from my stand-alone 10k PR. I had some guys from Liberty that paced my on the run. I also knew that I was having a good race and (due to the small size of the race) that I had a chance at a podium finish. That was a huge motivator.

Nothing.

I got some water and gatorade and found my daughter and wife who were volunteering. After getting some food, I checked my wife's phone to confirm results. I then had a couple of beers with some other RTC athletes while waiting for awards.


The Sunday before the race, I had a bike crash while out on a training ride. I broke a bone in my left wrist and pulled muscles in my right shoulder from the impact of the fall. I spent a good deal of the week debating whether to do this race or not. I knew the swim would be the most difficult part. After it went well, I knew I would have a good race. Apparently my bike needs a bit of tightening after the crash as well.


RMS races a generally small, so expectations shouldn't be too high. This one was well run. There isn't much that I would suggest they do differently. I am not a huge fan of the urban course, due to the uneven roads and surfaces for biking and running. That being said, I enjoy doing different races in different locations. This race definitely fit that bill. I am excited to finally get a podium spot in my last race in my current age group. Next year, I'm up to the big 4-0.