Memphis in May - TriathlonOlympic

I felt good throughout the swim, but my time was horrible. I was concerned about water temp as I was in the 10% or so that went without a wetsuit. I was pleasantly surprised to find the water felt great. Very refreshing. I did get into a good routine every now and then, which would be quickly squashed by realizing I had gotten quite of course. The start was good (everyone going off every three seconds) as far as spacing everyone out throughout the course so I didn't have too many problems with contact with others.

If I'm going to continue doing triathlons, I need to make a concerted effort to improve in the swim. My swim times are horrible and quite embarrasing. They really hold back my overall performance, as I'm decent in the bike and strong in the run. Need to spend more time in the pool. But also more time developing better form / speed. I also need to work on sighting. I was all over the course and gave us several minutes because of this. It may be time to invest in a wetsuit as I did not enjoy the bouyance that 90% of other participants did.

The transition area was very large, which is had to be given the number of participants. So while my time may seem high, I think I did fairly well. Probably could have shaved a few seconds if I had been a little more efficient, but overall not bad.

I don't really practice my transitions, and I need to start.

About half-way in, I got passed by a few people which seemed to be flying and I felt like I was stuck in the sand. Turns out, I kind of was. I noticed that my back tire was slowly leaking and I was only about half full. I decided to pull over and shoot some CO2 in rather than changing the tire. This seemed to get me through. But I think the problem with the flat/leaking really cost me. I never got in a rhythm and had to stay in gears I probably wouldn't have otherwise. This was a humbling ride as there were a few people that flew by me.

Train more. I didn't train enough for the bike (or the swim) as all my training up until a month ago was focused on Boston Marathon training. I need to get more comfortable on the bike and work on cadence. I'm all over the place.

This was a long transition area, hence the high time. I bet I ran a good 30 seconds from the time I racked my bike to the time I exited the transition area. Someone also put their bike in the area I had used prior to the bike start, so I had to rack my bike basically on top of the area I had laid out, making it a little more difficult to get all I needed.

Nothing really. I was fine with my time given the distance that had to be covered entering and exiting the large transition area.

Felt pretty good on the run. Probably could have pushed it a little more in the first four miles and been close to breaking the 40 minute mark. But it was quite hot at this point and I wanted to be sure I had something in the tank. And I was surprised by the number of hills. I've been living in Memphis for about 5 months now and these are the first hills of any significance I've encountered.

Nothing really. Given my running background, it continues to be my strongest area and one saving grace in triathlons. Given the quality of competition at this triathlon, I'm quite happy place in the top 10 in my age group.

Met up with the family and headed over to a shaded area to enjoy the post race spread. Ate some BBQ and drank a couple Budweisers. Seemed like a good warm down to me.


Not training enough for the swim and bike (I was doing marathon training exclusively until a month ago). Flat tire on the bike. Being a horrible swimmer. It's bad that I rank 133 (swim), 105 (bike) and then 9 (run). That's too large a discrepency. Even finishing middle of the pack on swim and bike would put me in good overall position given my strong running.


Very good event. Well organized. Huge compared to the triathlons I've done in the past. Only gripe would be lack of mile markers on the bike and run. I didn't see any at all.