Pittsburgh Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Swim was solid, start was a little chaotic because everyone wasn't in the water by the time 7am hit. We had to tread water for a couple extra minutes, but no biggie.

Sprint the first 300 yards to get out in front of the washing machine. Got stuck behind a few guys, but was able to draft which helped.

A downpour started just as I hopped on the bike. Luckily I had my sunglasses or I wouldn't have been able to see a thing. I was about 10-15 coming out of the water so there was no trouble in transition.

Nothing, everything went smoothly.

Course was a bit bumpier than expected but wasn't bad, though I did see about 6-8 flats out there, plus some guy who did something serious (like busted his chain or something like that) about 4 miles from the end who had to run his bike in. I felt bad for the guy. Climbs were long but generally held about 12-13mph going up the steep part of the hills. I was about on pace to the majority of the guys I was around. Nutrition was good, took down 3 servings of hammer gel plus a bottle of accelerade and a water bottle with a nuun in it.

Had a bunch of tri-bikes cruise past me though that I was drooling over.

Nothing, held a good cadence on the climbs and was happy with my finishing time considering the long climbs.

Guy who was a few spots down said he blew a spoke about 3 miles from the finish (I heard it too) and was lucky it didn't screw anything up or cause him to wreck.

Nothing, everything went smooth.

My last debacle with the run caused me to throttle it back a little bit. I started out at about 8:30/mile pace and was able to keep just about there the entire time. Walked at the 3.1 turn around to get some water.

Train more on running, if I can just that dialed in I may be able to podium next time.

Walked up to see my wife who was flagging people in from the bike. Stretched the legs.


Lack of running endurance, will do more speed work, hill work etc before my next race.


I had an absolute blast. Nothing beats coming down 279 on the bike, rounding that last bend at 30mph and having the Pittsburgh skyline right in front of you. Very well organized event and I can't say I was complaining about the good lookin' ladies from Suzuki running around 8)