Bridge to Pier Triathlon at Oak Island - Triathlon

Swim went according to plan, except for the hundreds of jellyfish. Fortunately the cannonball jellyfish seldom sting humans. Did OK until I turned for home and saw nothing but jellyfish in front of me. I panicked for about 30 seconds and then realized it was either swim through them or not finish.

I probably would have done better with a wetsuit, but the water was really too warm. I don't know where they got the 78 degree temperature.

Took a little too long in transition trying to calm down after fighting through the jellyfish.

Try and stay calm.

I usually do well (For my age group) on the bike. I could have gone faster but then would suffer on the run. Overall one of my best rides ever. As usual the best segment of my race compared to the entire field.

Nothing

Since I didn't use my bike shoes I just took off my helmet, grabbed my race belt and went.

Almost nothing. Somehow I didn't get my race belt clipped correctly and was luck it didn't fall off.

My goal was to run 12 min/mi until the last mile and then try and finish in 11 min/mi for a time of 45 minutes so I did much better than that. My first mile, when I thought I was crawling went by in 11 minutes and I got a little nervous and tried to slow down and get my HR down. The run is always the worst part of my race so I was pleased that I did better than my plan.

Start slower and negative split.

Grabbed some water and a piece of pizza and walked around. Got in the shade and talked to some other racers about the jellyfish.


My training was too sporadic due to traveling too much.


While they had tons of pizza, that's all they had to eat and only water to drink. I recommend cutting down on the pizza order and having fruit and either a sport drink or some soda available after the race. Overall I had a great time and will return if they just remove the jellyfish. Did this race with my son and that is always enjoyable.