Westpoint Lake Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Shoulders bothered me at the beginning of the swim, but I settled in to a steady swim (almost like I was just swimming laps in pool) and really thought about my form. My shoulders stopped whining about 1/2 way through the swim. Buoys were retarded after the first turn - it was very difficult to decifer where we were supposed to swim. I was so happy to get out of the water, but not happy that I still had a bike and swim to go.

Honestly - this was probably all I could do today. I need to get my shoulder injury addressed and really start liking swimming (which means getting into the pool more).

Transition was uneventful - slip feet into shoes, lean down to velcro, come up with helmet and glasses, run out with bike.

Nothing

Running out of transition - foot onto pedal - no resistance -Crap - dropped chain!! I don't know how this happened, since I rode my bike to transition, but I fixed it pretty quickly and got back on the bike. 1 mile later, my aerobottle slips out of the velcro, but I catch it before it falls off the bike. I try to put the velcro back together, but it wasn't going to happen. Decided to stop and fix it, before I lose all my water for the ride. Quickish stop and start again - this is going to be an interesting ride.

Shortly after Greg and Lisa pass me, which energizes me again for a bit and I pick it up for a bit. I actually had a nice average of around 20 for a bit, until the sprint and olympic split. Then, my energy was just gone. I was basically spinning up the hills and just over coasting down them. I just didn't have the motivation to push any harder and I knew I was killing my time, but I couldn't motivate myself to go any faster. I watched my time slip slower and slower, but oh well (at least that's what I was thinking then).

Finally coming back to T2, I had decided this was a nice training day, and I was going to go on a nice jog to finish it off.

Get ready to race, push it, what happened to my motivation?!

Took my time here, training day, right? Put on my socks at a slowish pace, put on my shoes, grabbed my fuelbelt and visor and walked - yes walked - out of transition.

Push - motivation - this is a race!

Somehow started jogging after I hit the map at transition. I had decided to jog, which probably was good for me. First mile split, I was surprised to see the time and decided I would just continue to hold the pace. Second mile, started to do some math and realized I could actually still beat 3 hours at this pace - I'll re-evaluate at 4 miles. Had so much on the run, I knew everyone was ahead of me, so I watched for club members and cheered everyone on. When I have enough energy to do this, it really makes the mile go by quickly, since I'm focusing on others (instead of if I'm tired).

I grabbed cold water at every aid station and took a sip, dumped the rest on my head. Then I would take a real drink from my fuel belt shortly after. This worked really well, My pace was based off how much I could push without my stomach revolting - I managed this well today. The last mile - I told myself I was racing a 5K and tried to pick it up. I gained a little speed, but not down to a 5K pace. :) Fun finish with all the club members yelling and cowbell rinign - yeah!! :)

I think I could have run faster - can you believe I just wrote that?! I think I have finally found my run in triathlon - watch out! ;)

Walked around, grabbed an orange and my recovery drink. Cheered for the other finishers.


Lack of motivation and (yes) mental preparedness. But really - this was about a 10 minute PR, so why complain?! I tried to beat 3 hours all last year, and I destroyed that time today. Can't wait for Chattanooga, then I will really race!


Good race, and I would really like to come back next year and really race it. No serious hills on the bike, nice easy run course. They really need to mark the swim better though - that was disasterous!