General Smallwood Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

There was no real trepidation about the swim, or about the lack of swim training... initially. During the little bit of training that I did do, I felt fine, felt like I could do about 1:50/100 yards and be out of the water in about 30 minutes. Plain and simple, I'm a horse, not a fish. I can't win the race in the water, but I can lose it, can't I? The air temp is near 50. The RD says the water is 70. For some reason, I just don't believe this. But four minutes after the first wave goes, it's our turn. In we go. It doesn't take too long to adjust to the water (the warmth of the pee in my suit helped). I just don't want the banging, or to be crawled over, so I set up way back and way to the left. There's the horn, guess I should be going now. I feel good. I feel fine. This is ok, no problem. I still see caps all around me. I'm in the pack, cathcing sight of the side markers, and moving along pretty well. But (isn't there always a but?) I lift up my head for the 375m buoy to make sure I'm not gonna cut anyone off, and all of a sudden I feel woozy, dizzy, light headed. I'm thinking this is not a good thing. I tell myself to stay calm, relax, you probably went out too fast, too much race adrenaline, you're fine. I round the buoy, get out of the lane, flip over on my back and back stroke for a minute trying to get some Oxygen and figure out what I'm gonna do. I can't very well back stroke the whole way and quitting is not an option. So, I flip back over and begin a very slow crawl. I finished the first loop in 17 minutes. Bad news is I am behind my goal time, but the good news is I'm still going, didn't drown, and they won't have to drag Mattawoman Creek for my body later. The second loop was 20 minutes. I could feel my left calf begin to cramp. Great. It was the swim that never ends, never had any rythym. It just went on and on. Thirty seven minutes forty three seconds. Well, like I tell my baseball players, you play like you practice. I didn't practice so I didn't play. The realization that I am so far behind and will not reach my goal of 2:30:00 for the race causes the apathy to set in. I just didn't care at this point. I wasn't giving up, but for the most part I felt like the competitive portion of the race was now over. I blew it. I was pretty down on myself. But slow or not, the clock is running, time to get a move on. I got over to the mini-T area where my old running shoes had been waiting... and waiting. Stepping out of my wetsuit, my right calf cramped and I screamed. OWWWWWW!!! Just what I need, problems with both calves. Shoes finally on, I wonder am I DFL? Could be, who knows? Who cares? Just run. Yes, run. It's 250m to T area. Ahhh, that is better. this I can do. Horse? Yes! Fish? No!

Get in a swim program. Something. Anything. Find a group and stick to it. Athleticism is no substitue for actual training. More body glide on back of neck, chaffed pretty bad.

Time for coffee? Did I take a nap? As I said, the apathy had set in after the lousy swim. I just didn't care anymore how slow I was in transition. I was talking to my wife and my friend and the crowd. Asking them for advice on whether I should wear my bike jacket, or not. I left it. I'd get out there when I was good and ready. At least the 250m run counted in the T time. I drank a bottle of water, ate a Gu, got geared up and off I went. Swim is done (thank the Lord!), lets go biking!

Well, I think I could have huried a bit more, but I needed to get my head together, so I took my time. I'll do better next time. Promise.

My plan was to go out fairly easy the first half because of the calf cramps. I'd try to pick it up on the way back in. The aero bottle was a great gear addition, it really helped a lot. I could stay tucked and hit on the water without getting up and becoming a bike sail. Legs were feeling ok, definitely passing more than I passed. Getting back into race mode and having some fun too! I was cold though. Brrr, goose bump city! OK, here is the 12.5 mile mark, time to increase effort. Start passing lots, but then OUCH! Damn, there it is. Left calf cramp. Ok, slow down again. This sucks. I am plenty hydrated. Just gotta do some more high intesity training this winter. The two ladies I just passed went back around me. I apologized to them, told them that I just cramped up. They were nice about it. I just didn't want them to think I was a prick. Well, shortly, the pain lessened somewhat, so time to get back into the pedals. I came up on the two ladies again passed with an "on your left, thank you", and she said "not bad for a cramp". I had a few more minor calf problems, but the rest of the bike was not bad. I got stuck behind two trucks for a minute, or two. I felt like finished pretty strong on the bike, hydrating the whole way (drank the entire aero bottle). I just need to figure out what I can do about the cramping. I know I can be faster. Next time.

Put on my jacket. I don't do well in cold. I was freezing. Ride more with higher intesity workouts. Stop cramping.

Drank some Gu2O, ate another Gu. Could not feel my toes, especially in my left foot. I figure combination of cold and lack of blood flow. Just shut up and put yours shoes on, will ya?

I did ok here. I mean, I'm sure it could have been faster. Just need more practice.

I felt slow. My legs were ok, but I just could not feel my toes for the first mile or so. I think once I got the feeling back in them, I did ok. I hooked up with a partner in my AG, Bart from DC. Thanks, Bart. It was his first Oly too. We talked some. I never hit the water station. I feel like it just takes me off my pace. I had plenty to drink on the bike and in T. I told Bart that I was gonna pick up the pace the last mile and then sprint to the finish, asked him if he wanted to join. He declined so off I went. It felt good to finish strong. Done. I did it. Woo hoo!!

More training bricks.

Two bottles of gatorade, a jelly sandwich, and a visit to the bathroom(had to go pretty bad).


What a consistent race - the swim sucked, the bike sucked, and the run sucked :-) I had four goals and met only one and that was to finish. I didn't not meet any of my time goals. However, I am new to the sport. I know that I have lots of things to work on. Look out Columbia 2007!


I don't have a lot of experience, but to me, the race seemed very organized. I didn't like my performance, but I enjoyed the race. Set-up, Inc did a nice job.