Elkhart Lake Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Swim was excellent. I'm a terrible swimmer so this was my best-ever swim split. It was definitely the highlight of the race.

Nothing.

I took my time through T1, stopped to help a fellow triathlete who was obviously flustered about a flat tire in T1, poor guy. It wasn't much but I held his bike while he pumped up his fixed tire.

Not help the fellow triathlete. Only joking. Nothing different except maybe try not to take as much time.

See `course' ... this was one painful mofo. I was woefully undertrained for this race as a whole, then to throw hills at me??? I was like the Titanic -- had no friggin' chance. The good news is lots of people were walking their bikes up the hills but I managed to keep a heft 4-mph pace.

Train more. RIDE LOTS!

T2 was better than T1, just like the movies. Stopped after getting everything ready before grabbing my bike to take a couple swigs of wataer and enjoy the scenery.

Not take time to enjoy the scenery.

Started cramping at the mile 1 water stop. I'm not sure if I was dehydrated or if the bike was killing me, all I know if my quads and muscles around my knees weren't having it and started seizing up on me. I blew through the water stop, taking two cups for drinkage and one for pouring-over-the-headage. That helped but about mile three my hamstring seized up and I came to a screeching halt. Thankfully a teammate was behind me and helped me stretch it out and it was back to it. I caught the guy who was #176 (I was #177) with whom I started and he looked a bit pekid. I decided just to run with him for awhile. We ended up jogging the last 2.5 miles and waxing philisophical about the war (he's ex-Marines, I'm ex-Air Force, family and triathlons).

To be faster not slow down and talk to my buddy.

We went straight from the finish to the beach and back into the water. It was cold but very refreshing. Had to get all the snot off my shoulders and hands. Ewwww!!!


I didn't train hard enough for this race. I've been totally slacking the past few months and it showed. The hills were killer -- everybody agreed on that. But to finish 24th out of 27 in my AG??? That's not acceptable by any means. To say the hills slowed my bike, which slowed my run is an excuse. Had I been better trained I would've done better. That said, I enjoyed this tri more than any I've done because I was less concerned about the time and enjoyed the sights, sounds, ladies and lake.


Next time I'll either train more or NOT bitch about my crappy time.