Greeley Triathlon - Triathlon

The moment of truth. "162, are you ready?" uhhhhh, I guess. Actually, after waiting for what seemed like forever to get this going, it was a huge relief to just get started. I told myself...Go out easy, RELAX, nice smooth strokes, breath, head down, RELAX! Worked fine for the first 50, then the swimmer behind me caught me at the first wall. I let him pass and though "maybe I should pick up the pace a bit"... At that point my swim began to be anything but smooth and relaxed. I really don't recall anything specific about the next 300 yards, other than thinking "this really sucks". The last 3 lengths (150m) there developed quite a bottle neck as slower swimers began to stack up like cord wood. Swim a few strokes, wait and walk, swim like hell, pass, swim like hell some more, pass, breast stroke a bit, walk...and so on. I would guess I walked at least 25m of the last 150, and passed 12-15 people. The final 50 was better because there was no traffic coming from the opposite direction and I was actually able to swim the whole last 50. My thought as I exited the pool was..."I survived but that was way too much effort for such a short swim". My HR was racing, and I'm sure I was anaerobic for too much of it.




For this event, I don't know that I would have/should have done anything differently... other than start swimming last fall instead of last month. I could have seeded myself a bit higher (12 minute swim seed time, finished in 11:25) but I really did not want to be responsible for slowing people down. Of course, I could have swam much more relaxed and smoother, but I believe that will come with practice...much more practice in my specific case.

Terrible. I was very slow. My lack of knowledge and experience showed here. Trying to put on bike shorts and a jersey while your skin is wet is very difficult. This is the reason 90% of the other athletes had tri-suits. I will for the next race, too. I believe I can save at least a minute, and probably 1:30 just by getting a tri-suit and being a lot more focused and organized.

Tri-suit, better focus and organization.

Good bike, despite the fact that I fell as I was mounting my bike. Yup, tried to do a running mount and my foot slipped off and down I went. Probably lost 45 seconds and I hit pretty hard on my left hip/butt cheek and dropped my chain. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Anyway, no damage to the bike, no skin lost, just a sore hip. This was a good course; two laps, very slightly uphill for the first couple miles then slighly down for the last couple. There was one bad corner at the bottom of a slight hill, but the rest of the corners were pretty fast and the road surface was generally good. Fairly fast. I was a little slow getting up to speed after my unexpected dismount, but found my rhythm in the first mile or so. I ride a road bike with no aero bars, so I tried to alternate between riding in the drops and stretching out as much as possible on the brake hoods. Kept my HR about were I wanted, just at threshold, and my cadence felt very good. I felt I could have gone harder, especially the second lap, but I just didn't want to leave myself with nothing for the run. My second lap was almost a full minute slower than my first....As it turns out, I shoulda just gone for it. I passed many on the bike; a somewhat dicely proposition at times as some of the slower riders tend to... meander a bit.

Perhaps, I'll not try the running start next time (or I'll do it right). I would also go harder on the second lap.

Again, another poor transition. Got of the bike OK, and ran as best I could with my bike shoes on. Raked the bike, took off the bike shoes, took of the bike shorts, put on the run shorts, took of the HR strap, put on a hat, put on the running shoes, a couple swigs of Cytomax and off I went.

tri-suit and speed laces for the running shoes. Just takes too much time to change into running shorts and tie the shoes. Can save 30 seconds here easily.

Out and back through a residential area, slightly downhill out and slightly uphill back. Nice run course. Took about a 1/2 mile to get my running legs, felt pretty good..maybe a bit too good. Grabbed water at the aid stations and drank a little and poured the rest over my head, which felt pretty darn good. Really had no idea what kind of pace I was running..I was passing people and no one was passing me. My pace was comfortable, but not fast enough. with about 1/2 mile left I kicked it up a bit and found I still had plently left, not surprised that my run time was about 1 min slower than I had been expecting. Oh well, it was an enjoyable run anyway.

My running, like my swimming, is going to need work. I have honestly put minimal effort into the run training for this event, and it is reflected in my respectable, but far from good, run time. I could have run a bit faster for this event, but the real future improvement will need to come from more and better training.

rehydrated, water and gatorade, ate a bagel. Sat in the shade for a bit and felt pretty good.


Training and experience.


Great race, well run. I will definitely make this an annual event.