St. George Triathlon "SGTRI" - Olympic Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I think I have found my strength in tri's. I'm a good swimmer. I finished 69th out of 362 swimmers. Unfortunately, the swim is the shortest part of the race.......

Let me tell you about this swim. The wind was blowing at about 30 mph sustained and over 40 mph gusts. It had been like this all night. The water looked rough and there were whitecaps. I started at about 7:10am, in the 2nd wave. The first leg to buoy 1 was with the waves, so it went fine. No OW anxiety, no crowd problems. The buoy 1 turn was really crowded but no kicks to the head or anything.

Around bouy 1, all Hell broke loose. There were waves and swells to my left side, my race breathing side. The waves were crashing on us. From the trough of the waves, they were at least 2 feet high, maybe more. I took in a BIG mouthful of a wave and it went down. I choked and gagged for a minute...and kept on. It happened again within a minute. I treaded water for a minute looking around. The lake just looked horrific. Whitecaps everywhere.

I started again, trying to breathe on my right side. In the pool, I swim alternating sides, and I can breathe on the right, but for whatever reason, I couldn't do it. I tried several times, but it wasn't going to work. I could see the next buoy, as I rode up the swells. It was during this leg that I seriously considered, for the first time in my short tri life, to stop.

I was so far from the finish, and the lake was kicking my ass. I saw a boat not too far from me, and I really wanted to signal to them. But I thought of 3 things, right then and there in the water: 1) I saw a IM Kona youtube video once and the guy said "you can quit at anytime, and they won't care....but you, will always remember..." 2) DNF---I didn NOT want DNF next to my name 3) IM CdA could be like this, so what would I do then?? I know last year at CdA, the water was horribly choppy, so it could happen again....I mentally resolved to move forward.

Breast stroke, free style..... I finally made it to the next buoy and turned into the waves...new adventure!! I felt like a dolphin launching out of the waves. While I could breathe better, the new challenge was crashing from the top of the wave to the trough, and from the trough of the wave to the top. There was no timing breaths with these waves.

I then saw someone "x'ing" there arms to get plucked out. Keep going, Steve. We swam behind a large rock island and it was a bit calmer, but it didn't last. Finally, I turned the last buoy and the waves were behind me. I churned it in and finished. Honestly, I was happy to be alive.

One more wave went off after mine. The RD at the award's ceremony said 29 people were pulled from the water on the Olympic swim (3 waves). They cancelled the Sprint swim. I guess it WAS a bit rough out there. :)

Bag all drill workouts and swim in a wave pool. :) Seriously, nothing. I credit my swimming strength from my workouts to get me through this.

My swim was only 2 minutes slower than last year, and last year the water was fine.

Some a-hole racked his bike and crap after I had, and he totally blocked me in!!! I had to move his crap on the ground to get my bike out. It was all I could do not to just kick his stuff everywhere.

No more racing with bike gloves...take too long to put on.

The wind did not help on the bike. Southern UT is very deserty, and the wind caused sand drifts in several places. That was fun! There were several times with the headwind that I could not get over 10mph. There is 1 steep, long hill on the course, and it was into the wind.

I was able to push through it though with little trouble (alot of effort, but no issues). The road was really rough too, for the most part, ahd that just added to going slow. I really couldn't test out the new bike much, but about the last 1/4 of the course, the wind was at my back mostly, and I got to open it up some. My max speed was 45mph, but I was dodging newbies too....scary.

Nothing. Can't help the weather.

Dipsh!t's bike was in the way again as he did the sprint, didn't have to swim, and was done with his bike when I got back...his crap was in the way again....and again, it was out of my way. :)

Throw his crap every where!!!

The run went well despite the ongoing wind. I felt good off the bike. A few times, I received a microderm abrasion treatment, and my skin feels so much smoother!!! This was my 3rd time doing this tri and run, and this year, I ran the entire course, except power walking up the hill. Running through the sand, very soft sand, just sucks.

Nothing at all.

Some stretching. I sat and waited for some tri club members to come through for their 2nd loop and told them to keep going!


The wind. I was ready for PB for an Olympic distance tri, but I was handed a different hand by Mother Nature. I still beat last year's time by about 8 minutes, despite the wind and water. But I do know that I can endure alot when it comes to the weather. I gained alot of confidence when it comes to my tenacity and endurance. I gained some doubts that if my IM in 6 weeks from today, could I make it for 140.6???


Good race despite the weather.

Volunteers rock. Thank you!!!!!!