Playtri Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

Before the swim start, Doug and I were just trying to stay warm and hanging out with Sue and Reagan. We watched the HIM folks finish and then headed towards our start. I just tried not to think about the swim at all. That is my swim strategy, don't train at all and try to block out the whole event just to get to the bike. Well, I guess it worked OK since I had been in the pool one time since last October and my swim speed was about the same as when I was training. It might have been a little slower, but I don't seem to improve much with training so I have given up that event for the time being and trying to focus on other areas.

I think I will try to get in the pool this summer and swim outdoors. I don't like swimming indoors during the winter. I guess training could improve my speed a bit, so maybe I will do that next time.

Well I think this might be the one area where I WON! I think I was maybe 2nd slowest overall for T2 transition time. Now it was a LONG haul out of the water and to the transition area, but then once I got there I just wanted to warm up and get on enough gear that I wouldn't freeze on the bike. I put on a long sleeve cycling shirt and a long sleeve fleece jacket.

Some much room for improvement, it's hard to say.

I think that the bike part of the race was where I was most discouraged. This same event last year I averaged 18.9 on the bike. However, there were very few hills last year and it wasn't quite as windy. I have done VERY little bike training since October, actually I have only been on my bike twice since Longhorn but I did go to spin a few times. I was not expecting great things, but 15.8 was slower than I had hoped for.

Train and train more specifically on hills.

I just don't seem to have speedy transition times and this is certainly something I need to work on. This transition time did also include a bathroom stop.

Go faster

The first couple of miles were pretty tough as I was having this shooting pain from my lower back all the way down through my right foot. My socks were also very bunched up in the toe area as I hadn't done a good job of adjusting them before I headed out. After the first few miles, the pain in my leg went away and I was feeling much better. My main focus on the run was to finish with under a 10 min/ mile pace. That was one goal that I did accomplish! I think that all of my running training paid off in this area.

Nothing, I was pleased with my run results. I am sure I can go faster, but need to practice more bricks.

After finishing, I stayed around the finish line to watch for Doug. Somehow I missed him as he must have finished while I was getting something to drink. We ended up hanging around at the finish line for awhile watching folks. We got a hamburger and ate while visiting with Sue and Reagan and then Doug headed out. I stayed at the finish line for a long time watching for other people that I knew.


I have heard some comments about people not feeling like the race was organized, but I thought it was a good race overall. It would have been nice not to have to wait in such a long food line, but nice that the hamburgers were hot and just coming off the grill. While I was checking out the results, a man came up to me to tell me that I made his heart jump a couple of times when he saw me on the course. He said that my smile, braids in my hair and visor all looked like one of his swim clients. He said that he had coached a woman who had died last year and that I reminded him of her. We talked for a couple of minutes and the woman was Dorothy from the Dallas area who died at IMFL in the fall. He told me about how her husband was doing IMAZ that day in memory of her.

One other comment I had was that there were times while I was on the bike and run course that I was asking myself "Why in the world are you doing triathlons as you are so much slower than most people and don't seem to be making huge improvements?" I will say that after thinking more about it, I do triathlons because they are fun and it helps me stay in shape and I have made many improvements, just not all speed related!