The Nation's Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I went into this swim feeling like I was in better swimming shape than I'd been during any of my other tris this summer. I felt strong and fast during the swim, definitely my best performance (despite it being my worst time). The course was NOT the one advertised on the website and prerace briefings. I'm sure this one was much longer than 1500m. Instead of swimming to the bridge, hanging a left, swimming back under and back to the start we went under the bridge, and kept going for a few hundred meters before turning around and heading back.

I came out of the water in 29:57 (my watch), but they didn't take times until you entered the transition area (which was a bit of a hike away).

Nothing.

Pretty good transition. Quicker than usual at getting wetsuit off, and the rest was standard affair. (22/80 in AG).

Nothing.

Best bike leg I've ever had, by far. A 4ish minute PR. Was a bit of a slow start, but once we left downtown and got onto the highway I started cruising. I found a fast guy and stuck (legally) on his tail the whole way. I'd bounce between a few bike lengths behind and 100m (he'd get away on downhills, but I'd catch him on flats/uphills). Trying to stay with him really motivated me, and kept me going at a harder pace than I knew I could keep. I had 2 gels, some gatorade endurance formula, and water during the ride (the only bottle I carried was the one in my aerobars).

Overall, it was a fabulous ride, and time-wise it definitely made up for my swim.

I could've dropped it under 1:06 if I had been motivated during the city miles. I definitely got off to a slow start, so next year I'll try to push it earlier.

Fine Transition, standard affair. (24/80 in AG)

I felt fabulous going into my run. I was psyched over my bike split, and ready to run. I ran strong for the first 4 miles or so, passing lots of people. However, the 95 degree heat really started to get to me and I faded. I was able to keep it together and never reached the death-march level, but it was tough. Not a bad run considering the heat, but it was nothing special. Admittedly, my PR is only about 25 seconds faster (though that was on a hillier course), so I can't complain.

This was a PR by about 2 minutes, which was great. I'm still psyched over my bike leg, but I realize that I'm going to need to do a lot of work on my swimming to be a competitor for top 3-to-5 in my AG, as I lost a lot of time there (up to 11 minutes). This was probably my last tri for the season, and was a great way to finish.