JerseyMan Triathlon - Triathlon

I didn't start out the swim overly hard. I had put myself off to the side in the deep water, so I didn't feel like I had to break out to stay in front of anyone. I just started swimming. That meant I didn't die like I sometimes do after taking it out too fast. One woman got out in front of me from the start and I was able to use her sighting and even draft off of her for a little while. When she pulled away a bit, I started to stray a little wide. When I reoriented myself, I realized that a few other pink caps were on my toes. I was able to hold my position around the first two buoys. At that point, we ran into lots of other swimmers and things got trickier. I tried to swim a bit to the inside to get around them smoothly. I don't think I swam over anyone or crashed into them too badly, which was impressive since I wasn't really looking. We ran into a bit of weeds on the way back and I scraped my hand on a branch underwater, but it didn't slow me down much. It got really crowded at the next buoy and I was able to shake off the remaining woman at my heels. As I rounded it and turned for shore, I realized that the first woman was right there. I pulled up next to her, was ducked by one of her strokes, and then pulled ahead for the finish. I swam until I didn't have room, but there was still a good ten feet or so of water to run through before the shore. Then it was a run across the beach, up the stairs, and up to transition where I crossed the timing pad.

I thought it went pretty well. I'm not entirely sure how I got off-course toward the beginning, but it was a long way to that first buoy, so maybe it was just distance. I think I recovered very well and had a strong finish.

T1 was a bit sub par. I was dizzy and disoriented (as usual) going in, and it took me a second to get my bearings once I'd gotten to my stuff. I started out ok, getting my shoes, helmet and sunglasses on easily. I ran into a ittle trouble switching my watch to the bike. I started to jog the bike out of transition and realized that one of my shoes was undone (did I not do it or did it slip out?), so I had to stop for that. Then, as I got toward the line, I realized my chin strap wasn't clipped, so I had to stop for that as well. Then I got out of there. I got on the bike and started moving wieth less trouble than usual, at least.

Take a tiny bit of extra time to make sure I've done everything thoroughly so as to avoid all those stops.

This was a hard bike for me and I was happy about my performance. My Garmin had me averaging 18.8 mph before the big hills hit. My HR was quite high at the beginning, so it took some time to get into a rhythm, and then that rhythm was hard to keep. My racing HR is SO much higher than my normal rides, which is why they all feel so rough.I did pretty well, though. I felt like my shifting was smoother than usual (at least until the last 1/3 of the course, when shiftng to my big front gear gave me some trouble) , cornering was much more confident, and my descending was great. I passed several people because of the speed I was able to gain going downhill. I am still not a great cyclist, but I've definitely improved some of my skipps.

I just need to be better prepared for those hills. I ride hills all the time, but not like that. I should find some more varied routes to get used to it.

I did better on T2. Getting my watch off the bike took a little extra time, as I knew it would, but I didn't have any hiccups like in T1. Got everything settled, paused for an extra swig of Gatorade, and was off.

Nothing. This went smoothly.

It was sunny by the time I got to the run and not nearly as chilly as it had been beginning the bike, but not warm enough to be a problem. The weather was basically perfect. The run started out rough - I haven't felt dead leg like that in a long time. My bricks have been good practice, but I don't generally do them immediately after crazy hills like that (I just don't have the hills near my house!). The hills on the run course itself were also rough - the second half mile was basically uphill and they were fairly steep. I got to the first mile marker, near the crest of the bigger hill, and let myself walk for :30. My stats show that this was able to get my HR down just a bit, which I think helped my manage the rest. I didn't walk again and was able to keep up a steady, if not fast, pace. I accelerated a bit down the finish chute, and when the announcer commented on it, I was spurred to really sprint in for a very hard finish.

Not knowing the course length was rough. I saw the stats on my Garmin and didn't know whether to trust them, and was really annoyed at the length (I had warmed up on the end of the course, so I knew exactly how much more was ahead as I came down the lake, and it made me a little angry). I had a hard time through the last third of a mile, but tried to call upon the mental toughness that got me through that half-marathon two months ago. I got there eventually, but I was in bad head space for some of it.

Walked around the event. Got first aid for my hand, which had been cut on that branch in the swim. Ate a lot (they served a full breakfast buffet!). Got my trophy!


I didn't rest for this and trained pretty hard this week because we're leaving for Barcelona tomorrow and workouts will be really limited there. I think that was the biggest factor. Overall, I did feel like I'm better-prepared and in better shape than much of last year.


The course was very hard. I wouldn't recommend this for a beginner. If I hadn't done some Olys last year, I think it would have been much worse for me. Having experience with longer distances, I was able to manage but it was still tough. The race was mostly well-run, though, with good support and great post-race festivities. They even gave out trophies!