Hickory Knob Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

This was probably my poorest-navigating race of the season; I kept veering to my left (throughout the entire course). Afterwards (day later), my right arm was a lot more sore, I wonder why it was working harder than the left arm? Anyway, the water felt fairly warm w/ the wetsuit. The climb out was insane!!! We had to pull ourselves up a ladder and onto the dock, and then pull our way up a STEEP metal gangway; followed by a fairly long run along concrete to T1

At least I took the time to pin my timing chip/strap together this time so that it didn't give me problems.

Good physical effort though.

Work on adjusting my bearings to stay on course better

Fairly fast, I might have been able to get my wetsuit off quicker; relaxing some sure reduced the risk of getting seriously caught up on my ankles

Practice on running mount and getting up to speed w/ bike shoes already clipped in.

See above for comments on lack of race safety. I started going fairly hard with about 7 miles to go. With less than a mile to go, I went to pass a slow-moving truck. I started coming up on a runner quicker that I expected, and tried to shout something. However, I was breathing too hard and it didn't come out intelligible. I swerved at the last minute to avoid hitting him, but I clipped him just enough to wipe myself out. I got back up as soon as I could, put my chain back on after shaking myself out to make sure I was still in one piece, and got on to go again. Seat got knocked sideways and bar-tape was shredded, but I think that was the only damage to the bike.

Only took in one gel

Not take unnecessary/aggressive risks

Maybe take in more calories (and have more confidence to burn them by going in and out of lactic threshold)

It wasn't a bad transition considering the circumstances, but I was still shaken up and hurting from the bike fall.

Didn't have more than a mouthful or two of water to drink the entire course.

I ran the first half of the course on pure rage against the race directors for the safety problems on the bike course, and as I started to "cool-off" mentally, I thought about how the race could be improved for next year.

Tapering definitely paid off, I felt absolutely incredible during the run; I knew I was flying. Best time for my 10k proves it.

Maybe take in more fluids/calories, but it's hard to tell. Maybe I was able to go harder because I didn't have as much in my stomach.

Walked around trying to find the first-aid people, followed by sitting in their ambulance as they barely cleaned out my wound and applied hand sanitizer. Thank God I didn't have any more serious injuries!


Bad decision making on the bike. My aggression/risk taking on the bike lead to a wreck that negated the precious minutes that I had earned when I started hammering with about 7 miles to go.


Fun race overall, great way to end the season. Especially rewarding to have so many people from the GT Triathlon Club there.