Edwards AFB High Desert Triathlon - Triathlon

I hadn't got to swim for the last 4 weeks due to logistical problems. I was worried about how the swim would go. I started out a little to fast, which led to trying to calm myself down. Then I allowed myself to settle into too easy of a pace. For some reason I was swallowing a lot of water, to the point that my stomach was feeling sloshy. Not my best swim.

I need to practice pacing and mental game during the swim.

My legs were cramping really bad coming out of the pool. My hamstrings and calves tightened up so tight when I was getting out I was worried I was going to fall back in the pool. When I was trying to get my shoes on while riding my calves kept cramping making it take several tries to due up the straps.

I either need to practice getting in my shoes faster or just put them on before I get on the bike. I wasted a lot of time messing with them while getting going on the bike.

I wanted to stay around 250 avg power and stay aero. The start I was dealing with some pretty bad calf cramps that I thought were going to stick around all day, but by about mile 4 they settled down. I was able to hold a pretty constant power into the wind and up hill, but downwind or downhill my power fell out the bottom. I also struggled staying aero, I need to work on that for Havasu. I was able to stay aero when I had to (into the wind, downhill, etc), but if I was downwind or pushing hard up hill I came out of aero to give breaks. I need to work on the better position.

As for nutrition, I had two bottles with me and a gu with me. One of the bottles had 2 scoops of Gatorade and 2 salt tabs mixed in. I drank about 1/2 of that bottle. The other bottle had plain water. I didn't drink any of that, I just used it once to wash out my mouth to fight dry mouth.

Work on staying more aero and getting to produce better power in aero. Also would like to produce more power on the downhill and keep that more consistent throughout the ride.

Everything went really smooth, no issues here.

Nothing, went really well.

It was pretty mentally defeating to run straight into the wind on the way out. It created a mental battle, especially on the second lap. The first out segment it was a mental fight to keep a pace that would still allow me a shot at the sub 42 range. I was able to make up time on the way back (downwind), but I gave it back on the way back out. It was hard to mentally stay in it and convince myself it was important. I made up some time on the way back, but just not enough. My watch said I was 41:xx, but the timers said differently.

I hope that I can get into the run, mentally speaking, faster in the future. The first 3/4 of a mile were a real fight and that wore me down. After about 2 miles I got a little bit of a groove, but not a great one or a long enough one. I need to work on mental toughness by fighting through tough intervals in training.
I paced exactly to my watch and didn't give leeway for my goals. My watch said I was at 2:14:xx. The official time came back 2:15:08, missing my sub 2:15 goal by 8 seconds. I should have dug deeper to make sure I got that.

There were a lot of people to talk to and help with the triathlon. Most of my warm-down was just chasing Bryson around which was plenty of walking. Nothing really structured for a warm-down though.


My mental game. Each leg I mentally was telling myself that I was going to fail at the start. I need to work on breaking down speed barriers and trusting my ability to go faster. I know that my body can take a lot more pain than I allow it and I need to get better at making myself go harder.


For a very cheap, all volunteer race this is a great venue. It is not a typical race production but a good grass roots race with everyone involved volunteering their time to put it on.