Marble Falls Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

This is the best swim I have ever had in a race. I got out with good, long strokes and happened to find a guy that was just a little faster than me. After 200m I stayed on his feet and got pulled the entire way. I barely had to site because I figured he knew where he was going and I could literally see his feet the entire way. As we turned around the last buoy I was considering swimming past him but figured the extra effort for may 20 seconds wasn't worth it. I stayed behind him all the way to shore. I felt great after this swim and felt like I could've gone another 1,000m without any problems. I didn't put a lot of effort into the swim and when I got out of the water and looked at my watch I couldn't believe it.

This is my first ever sub 2:00/100m swim in a race and if I can get behind someone like this at Cancun I will be thrilled because the bike and and run will be a breeze on the flat course there.

Nothing, this was by far my best swim in a tri.

Had a good spot for transition. I always like to be right at the Bike Out so I don't have to push it very far. I didn't wear socks so the transition went quick.

Good transition and within range of top finishers.

Nothing.

My target average was 21.8mph and I came in at 21.9mph. I pushed it pretty hard on the bike and passed a lot of nice bikes again. I knew I could go hard because the last 5 miles would be pretty much downhill and I could get my legs back before the run.

Tried to focus on drinking to stay hydrated as I really need to work on this before Cancun. I had a Gu 40 minutes into the bike to get something in my system for the run.

With 2 miles to go I passed one of my age groupers and I knew he and I would be fighting for position during the run.

Nothing.

Good quick transition. Me and the guy I passed on the bike got out at about the same time. I ended up leading him out of T2 by maybe 20 yards.

Once again, I felt like my running legs deserted me. Even though I had a 20 yard lead on my other age grouper I could tell it would be a struggle for me to keep my pace. My target time was 6:50/mile and that's exactly what I came in at, but it just felt like I had to work really hard to keep that pace.

With about 1.5 miles to go the other guy passed me and I knew I wouldn't be able to hang with him. He ended up beating me by 20 seconds.

I'm not sure why the short runs have been a challenge for me lately. I've been focusing on long runs to get ready for Cancun and haven't really focused on any speed work. I guess I should work in some speed work to keep the fast twitch muscles ready to go when I need them

All things considered, I came in at my target run pace so I'm happy about that, even though it felt like I had to work hard to get it. I didn't really taper at all the week before and maybe the long runs earlier in the week had more of an effect than I thought they would.

Need to do some speed work.

Stretched out the legs, got Diet Cokes and ate a burger.


Well, I came in 10 minutes faster than I did last year and 4 minutes ahead of my projected time (thanks to a very good swim) so I can't complain.

All in all I'm happy with the race even thought I didn't place in my age group. This tri usually brings in some real good competition so I can't be too sad about not placing when I beat my projected times.