Cranberry Country Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

So we walk over to the swim start. Get a nice picture of me and the competition a.k.a. Mark. a.k.a. Stone. a.k.a Animal on the bike. First wave goes off. Then the next. Then cappys. I am standing there watching and decide that now is the time to put my cap on. It's 5 minutes until our wave starts. Bend over, stretch cap when I hear SNAP! I look down. The effin cap split right down the middle. I look up. The guy working the gate to the swim start says... that sucks, you have to race with a cap man. I put it back on and tie it like a bandanah around my head. i look like Macho Man randy savage... OOOOHHHH YEAAAAHHH. Hair is sticking out of my gimmick cap in about 3 different places. They let us into the water. I wade to the start. The water looks like king kong's diahreah and smells about the same. Something slippery and warm is squishing between my toes. 90 seconds to start. Every one on the front line starts making fun of the announcer. I look up to the first bouy and see this green capper doing the side survival stroke. I mention to my fellow front liners how he is going to get mauled. They agree. 5,4,3,2,1. Go. I get a good jump and I am off. My first 100 yards is awesome. I look to my left. Open water. I look to my right. 1 guy. Uh oh. Did I go out too hard? We reach the first bouy. Guy to the right looks like he is going to swim right into the island. I lose him. I really like this swim because there is so much fun stuff o look at in the pond. I look up to sight and see side stroke. I give him a break and go around him and can only feel sorry for him knowing he is going to get wave after wave of attacks. Second buoy. There is no one around me. I am worried. The key to having a good swim isn't your finishing time, of course that DOES matter, but how you feel when you come out of the water. I know that if I don't have anyone to draft off of I am going to feel it ofr the rest of the race. 3rd bouy I look up. Perfect line. I look back, my wave is about 15 or 20 yards behind me! Shit. I need someone to draft off of. Finally someone breaks off of the pack and makes a move on me. H eomce right up on my feet. I take a "wide turn" at the next buoy by "accident" and let him take me on the inside. I get on his feet like white on rice and stay there for the entire swim back. This is harder than it seems considering we were plowing through the remnanats of the previous waves. I swim right up to the landing. Get up. I am second out of the water in my wave. WATCH YOUR STEP yells the lady. I watch the step as it drives into my big toe. I bleed. I fall. great.

Nothing. I really enjoyed this swim. My effort level was pretty good.

I ran into t1 , wetsuit came off good. put my crap on. Put my racing belt on to save time later. Ran and jumpe on my bike.

Nothing. it was kind of slow but my toe was killing me and I was worried about it.

I hammer out of the gate and onto the road. The first ten miles are good. I start drinking. I take my gu. I mixed my Gatorade Endurance a little stronger than usual and it was really salty and really sugary. This caused a drooling effect. I get passed and pass some people. Nothing very interesting happens most of the ride. All I can think is... Mark is coming, mark is coming ride harder, rider harder. I ride hard. Up to this point I must have been averaging 22 or 23. With 6 mile to go is where I feel the effects of hammering. My stomach feels funny for a second. Before I know it I have veal parm chuncks mixed with boost and gatorade endurance all over my leg. I puked all over my self. gross. At this point I look down at my foot, which was numb. I notice blood coming out of the holes in my t1 sidi shoes. Great. I think of the classic warning, if you feel fain stop the machine. Igh. I don't feel good, thats for sure! Finally we make it up this bitch of a slow incline and come to a flat. I know I only have 2 miles and Mark hasn't caught me yet. This is good. My legs hurt. I feel like my run will suffer because of this. I turn into the chute. I bunny hop the speed bump which gets a little rise out of the crowd. It was either that or the vomit on my leg and the drool coming off of my cheek... whatever. Into T2 we go.

LOL. I am still trying to chop my way through this question.... Like usual I just need to get fater on the bike. If you look at my ranks you can see this... 30th OA on the swim. 20th OA on the run. 152nd OA on the bike!!!

Had some trouble with my socks. Dropped my bike on the ground. Feel like doody a little. My toe hurts.

So you know when you are a little kid. You go to dairy queen and you want a LARGE vanilla chocolate swirl and your parents will only get you the small. You cry so hard that you can barely take in any breath. WHAAAA huh huh huh WHAAAAA!!!! This is how I felt for the first Half mile. I was trying to breathe and it was like my throat wouldn't open wide enough to let enough air in. I sound like i am choking on wind. HOT ass wind. It has to be about 97 degrees and sunny out. I am sweating like crazy. I come to the first aid station. I yell out, can someone throw water at me. The girl says I will. She throws it at me. It was a terrible throw. Pretty much a lazer shot right in my ear and my eye. It tingles in my ear and tastes a little strang. SORRY i just threw HEED at you by accident. LOL. That's ok. I decide I will be throwing my own water at myself from now on. I dump a couple cups on my head and keep going. It is EFFING hot. I pass 10 people by mile 1. Mile 2 is pretty good, my stride is good, my legs feel better. I pass 10 more people by mile 2. Water all over myself, a little in my mouth, drool off my chin. I puke @ mile 2.5. It was green. I now have puke drool coming off my chin. I pass 10 more people by mile 3. This is where the pain comes. I have bene throwing water all over myself and I start to hear a squishing noise. Oh shit. My sneakers are saturated. My feet start to feel heavy. Mile 4. Only two more to go. I have a couple cramps in my left side that are pesky. I puke a little in my mouth and swallow it again. I pass another 10 people by mile 5. 1 more mile to go. The typical question pops up, why the F do I do this to myself. I am on fire. DAMN it's hot out. Squish, squash, squish, squash. I pass an elite. He is walking. Only one more mile. I see one more guy I can pass. I work really hard to get up to him. I pass him and FINALLY make the turn o the finish. I look behind me half expecting to see Mark sprinting passed me. There is no one there. I run across the line and pur water all over myself and start trying to cool myself down.


I donlt know

Walked around in a daze. Watched people finished. Ate some bad food. Developed a GI issue that lasted me the entire ride home.


I feel like I could have been a good 3 or 4 minutes faster... that would have gotten me 2nd in my AG and not 5th. I'll be faster on the bike next year.


Beggin for a carpet on those slippery ass steps.