Utah Summer Games - Triathlon

As bad as the weather was in the last race at this course, that's how good it was this time. No waves, great temps. It was really like swimiming in a pool, it was so calm. Found some people to draft for a while, but they ended up going too slow. I was stoked when I noticed I was passing some of the people from the wave before mine.

The course HAD to be longer than it has been in the past. It was set up different from before plus my times have NEVER been that slow on a OWS before. I also did well overall in the swim, because everyone's time were longer.

Try to find someone better to draft off of.

Pretty good transition. First time I was able to step on the wetsuit and get it off while putting on the helmet. It was a instant decision to try that. I never practiced it before. But I had my ankles pretty lubed up due to the last couple races when the suit got caught, so this time it slipped right off.

High Z4 for the race. Felt pretty strong. Attacked the hills a little more this time. Being familiar with the course helped a lot. For the FRIST time, I passed more people that got passed. Usually, I feel like I'm just putzing along when everyone just flys by. I was even passing what looked like some pretty strong bikers. It was good for the ego a little.

Decent Transition... It had a LONG run from the dismount to the racks, so it was about 20-30 seconds longer than typical.

I may have gone out a little too hard on the bike (but that was the plan just to see what happens). I still ran a good 10k, but my legs never really came around. The were like rubber for the first mile and a half or so then I got into a rythm, but never got them back fully. The HR was in Z3 most of the time, and the thought of going to Z4 just hurt.

Fluids and food and some light stretching.


Nothing - ran a great race. Just need to train to be faster!


I will try to keep this short, since overall, it was a great race for me. I couldn't have done more to be better.

I have to admit, I was NOT fired up about this race at all. The least fired up I have ever been about a race. The last few Oly races I have held back a little, so I decided to go all out this time a see what happened. I was going to cruise on the swim, hammer the bike, and hold on for the run. It worked out just like I planned.

The swim was the swim - pretty much status quo.

On the bike, I kept it in high Z4 for most of the ride and averaged over 19mph! That is the fastest I have EVER averaged on the bike leg! I also moved the seat forward about 3cm a couple weeks ago because it felt like it "needed" to be moved. I really felt more earo and powerful with that small change. Kept me a little more forward and over the bars which allowed me to be over my elbows a little more - very comfortable. I also decided to really attack the hills more and not lose time on them. I know the course well enough by now to realize there is time to recover and still not lose speed on the back side.

My legs felt a little taxed for the run. The HR stayed on Z3 for the run, but I just couldn't get my legs to go any faster. I was not "slow" for my standards (only 30 seconds/mile slower than my open 10k), but I felt like I should have had more energy.

I tend to focus on the negatives too much at times, so I'll be brief. There were not too many negatives this time!

FIRST, I should have gone to the bathroom (#2 - I know that's TMI - but it IS race info for me) before the race. I normaly try to get anything out of my system I can, but didn't feel the need this time. But during the run, I was feeling it - I'm not sure if going before the race would have made me any faster, but just being even 56% more comfortable could have saved a minute.

SECOND, I was passed with one mile to go by someone in my age group (first time all day, that I noticed). It was frustrating to find out, by letting that happen, I was moved from 3rd to 4th in my AG. I had a thought of chasing him down, but my legs had other ideas. I succeeded in keeping up for 1/2 mile, but when he kicked it, he blew me away. I was spent. I checked his 10K pace and he was easily running a min/mile faster than me. He was just a better runner. Oh well.

THIRD. had a brief incident on the bike with a runner. There are jerks, even in triathlon. The run and the bike shared a portion of the same route, so I was flying into T2 (about a mile yet to go) and had to pass runners. They were the sprinters finishing up their race. This really was not a problem because they looked out for me and I looked out for them and would tell them I was comming. However, a couple guys were chatting it up and running side-by-side about 3' apart and moving from left to right and were going to cut me off. I couldn't go to the right because there were other bikers/runners and couldn't go left into oncomming traffic. The whole time I was yelling "HEAD'S UP!!!! On the left!" - even another runner started to say "look out!" to these two guys for what they were doing. They were just off in la-la-land. So I had to brake and yelled "WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, COME ON GUYS!!!!" and zigged though them at the last possible second.

So, one of them yelled back mockingly "WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, the course is open to us too!".

I was thinking, "Yeah, but you HAVE to look over your shoulder if you are going to run into the middle of the bike lanes". If I would have hit one of them at 20mph because I wasn't sure what they were doing, we could have BOTH, been seriously hurt.

I hate it when someone else pulls off an A-hole move, and I say something and they think/call ME an A-hole! Am I out of line here? I know I need to look out for those in front of me when I pass, but come one, they have SOME responsibility to look before cutting right into the bike lane, no?

ANYWAY - set an olympic PR. JUST missed my goal of completeing one in 2:45. Next time!