Cranberry Country Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

This was the most calm I've ever felt during the swim portion of a tri. I didn't freak out once. My heartrate at the start was probably 80, when it's usually 120. Seriously, I could've taken a nap. I just wasn't nervous.

While that might not always be a good thing, it was exactly what I wanted at this race. My goal was to have fun and enjoy the day. And I definitely did that.

I usually pull to the left when I swim, so I started on the left of the pack, up front. I'd rather be pulling off course than into people. And of course, for the first time since I started OWS, I was pulling right that day. Doh! I figured it out pretty fast and was able to do some straight shot navigation.

On the back end of the swim, I saw a couple people doing the backstroke, so I encouraged them as I came up for breath, "Keep... it up... looking... good!" Ha! That was a first.

On the way back in, I started passing a bunch of people from the previous waves. I was tempted to sprint it home, but stayed relaxed and just finished it up.

Overall, the swim was a little slow for me. My swimming has gone downhill a little over the past couple months and I need to figure out why that is. But, I'm still pretty happy with the swim. Particularly because I've become so comfortable with pack swimming and OWS this year... something I was dreading when I started training.

I wanted to have some quick transitions today and T1 went as well as I had hoped. I was focused. I even had time to tell my friend Mike (who was just 30 seconds behind me on the swim) to remember to buckle his helmet before grabbing his bike, and say hi to a couple people on the way out!

I need to practice my 'flying mount'. I feel lame running up to the line and stopping to get on my bike!

Also, I need to get brave and trim off the ends of the ankles on my wetsuit. It gets stuck every time!

I absolutely killed this bike course. I was hoping to do 21 mph, but I wound up with a 21.5 mph average... a new PR. I only got passed by a couple people. I played leapfrog with a girl in an MIT kit and some guy on a P3 Carbon for 15 miles. About 5 miles from the end, I dropped the hammer and they never caught up.

I felt like I pushed in all the right places. But overall, I just pushed too hard. It was way too hot out for that kind of effort and it showed on the run.



At the water station, one of the volunteers dropped a bottle in front of me. Distracted by trying not to die from the bottle rolling around, I missed the bottle that was being handed to me by another volunteer. I had enough water to finish, but I would've loved to have that nice COLD water. Next time, I'll go through there a little more slowly to make sure I don't miss it.

And I definitely need to save some of my legs for the run!

I hit T2 and I was TIRED. My 'stay strong and focused' mentality was quickly fading and being replaced with 'owwwwwwwwwwwwwww'.

I wound up going a little slower in T2 than I would have liked.

Not be so tired already!

This run was terrible! My HR was pegged around 170 the whole time. I just couldn't get it under control. I knew it was in serious trouble when I had to walk before getting to the first aid station. I was overheating, big time. I dumped insane amounts of water on my head, which helped a little but not enough. I thought I had a tough time on the run at Mooseman, but this Cranberry race takes the cake as my worst run ever.

But I'm not going to complain about it affecting my time. I couldn't run more than a mile with my IT band issue for about a month after Patriot, so I'm really fortunate that I was even able to finish this race... never mind meeting a super optimistic 'goal' of an 8:00 average pace.

On a funny note, I had 4 people ask about my Newtons while running. Most of the conversations went something like, "Oh, you've got those Newtons. How are they?" And I would say something like, "I love them. They really seem to help with my running... though you wouldn't know it today!" haha!

Not blow myself up on the bike. Not get injured beforehand so I can train properly.

I mulled around talking with everyone and congratulating my friend Mike (who finished just 4 minutes after me!!!). Hit the BBQ, drank lots of water, and had to head out early since the heat was making my wife feel sick. I wish I could've spent time with the BT gang! Everyone was having so much fun!! :(

(Oh... and why was there no water, drinks or food on sale for the spectators?!?)


Limited run training, pacing issues, HEAT!!!


Awesome time. I can't wait for next year!