San Jose International Triathalon - TriathlonOlympic

Was determined to have a good swim i.e. not cramp 'cos of some stupid panic-related reason for eg. kicking too vigorously or incorrectly (like in WF) . started off well in the back of the pack and towards the outer edge .

the start was good . I didn't push it too much but tried to focus on my stroke being strong but correct esp. the legs . I could've probably pushed stronger in the beg. but that might have meant pushing thru' the pack so ...

kept plugging away and realized that , as usual , am going to be one fo the slow ones . no worries me said , its all abolut me ;) rounding the first buoy felt good as I tought as i was close to the half way turn around ... unh-hunh :(

after the turnaround , i decided i'm going to stay with my swim pace and just keep going worked out well as I ended up passing people even ?!? However , towards the latter half I started tiring as I thought I was gpoing strong but realized that I was not even halfway so more mental fatigue than physical :(

On the last 200-400 yards , decided that I'm going to start getting a bit stronger and give it all I got without going crazy ... strategy worked out well and I finished strong without treading water too much :)

In general , I was very happy with my swim went better than I expected/dreaded. But as always there are thing I could've done better:
- start out strong without panicking and hence build a good lead in the beginning
- have the confidence that I have the endurance to swim strongly for the entire distance and not just the last 200/400 yds!
- not get unnerved about the end not being in sight or taking more time than expected to finish,etc. ("stay in the moment")

Got out of the swim in a decent shape and didn't lose balance on the beach ;)
got everything done correctly and didn't forget anything but I did take a while to get into shoes, out of wetsuit and out of my t-area :(

- practice getting out of wetsuit ... and get FAST !
- do some swim/bike bricks to get used to this

The bike was supposed to be my big discipline or at least I thought it was :(
probably got too cocky about it being good and me making up time on this and paid the price !

background: the night before as part of the prep for the race , in filling the rear tire , I snapped the valve off :( never ever happened to me so it was just the top off not the entire valve which kinda wouldve made sense ! any case , I struggled and replaced the tube and stuffed the tube back in but evidently not properly as I'd find out tomorrow .

as i started the bike , it felt funny and within around 500 ft of starting , I felt this odd thump-thump coming from the rear tire and it didn't look like a flat but then realized that there was a bit of the tire+tube that was sticking out :( anyway , reduced the air a bit and then stuck the tire back in . tried refilling the tube a bit more but didn't do too much since didn't want to blow it . would rather cycle harder/faster ...

so far so good ... was plugging away till the 8/9mile or so and then the road hit a bit of a rough-ish patch where the road wasn't as smooth and then i realised that I had to pedal that much more . stopped twice and then finally relaized that the damn air had escaped "mostly" out of the tube :-(

was cursing my lack of prep. but then sucked it up soon after and ended up changing the tube . took a while but decided that am going to do the best i can and thats that ... but ... ARGH ! did i feel stupid or what !!

anyway , finally got back on the bike and started out slow and tentative. just ensured that I give it my 100% although I felt like $hit :-(
the rest of the bike went off uneventfully and was able to push the section after the hill but realized that I'm not going to make the 1:15/1:30 even but gave it my all towards the end anyway .

Probably wasted a good 25-30 mins on the whole equipment issues :(

- take the time to check the bike out completely the day before and probably go on a short ride even to ensure that all is working well :)
- do a bike check in transition properly and not spend too much time chatting with buddies

was good and nothing much to complain . decided to skip on the sunblock stuff .

- practice more bricks with a focus on improving transitions

the run went off well although I probably took it a bit too easy in the beginning . I should have attempted to keep the pace at or around 10:00 /10:30 in the first 2 miles but it was mostly at 11+ . Was very hot out ther and was a bit demoralized when i'd see other folks that i knew finishing or ahead of me . had the gels and drank water+heed well so didn't feel too dehydrated . however , i could have and should have pushed the last 3/4 miles (listen mike ricci ... he knows what he is talking about !)

- learn to pace my runs better and get the pace improved on the shorter runs at the least .

stretched a bit but not much ... mostly rehydrated and replinished with bagel+salad+banana. hunbg out with family+friends and basked in the glory of having finished the triathlon .

eventually after picking up the bike, had 24 oz of sport drink + water + banana . felt good on the recovery.


the damn bike :-(
followed by my sympathy for myself on the run ... need to get out of this !



was a very nice Oly , flat and very PR-able and if it were not for my bike issues , I'd have had a great day but then I figure I should calculate my times ignoring the 30 mins. ... suddenly the Oly time doesn't look so bad :-) ( or else the last one in my age group has to feel good :-( )