I swam the Dam, Magrath triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

lost tracking easily; tough to see orange buoys in midst of orange swim caps.
swam off course lots -seem to be veering RIGHT

need to work on OW techniques -swimming a straight line is a a big challenge
stop worrying that other people might be off course and follow the pack
swim longer before sighting? -
be consistent in breathing -kept breathing every breath

disoriented and tired out of the water. arms were too tired to fight with my wetsuit -got stuck at ankles and i just sat down for a few seconds to figure out what to do.

use the wetsuit strippers to help me.
practice ripping the suit off?
more body glide

Lost my damn fuel bottle in T1 (maybe the AG winner sabotaged me??). realized at 15K that i didn't have any gels. I was pleased for the downhill course. i had a bottle of stiff gatorade and some shot blocks so that helped out.

I think i need one of those handlebar bottles that you can drink from. I spent a good 10K holding onto my bottles in my aero position. I can't imagine that i didn't lose some time for this

too long in here (although i have no idea how long) -forgot my visor and had to backtrack. couldn't get my bike racked. dropped a waterbottle and a gel. a bit of a gongshow overall

need to try pulling feet from shoes before dismount...?? didn't think of that.

Hotter than hell and absolutely no reprieve from the sun. Wasn't going to do the run because of injury. haven't run in over a month. decided the day before that i was going to give the run a go. had decided to take it easy and to try to run with a midfoot strike. did take it easy but not sure i could have run any faster anyway...

run faster!

lay in the shade with a Mr Freezie and whine.


the heat for sure
fear of pain (injury) and exertion


Great race. I loved the swim venue and I loved the atmosphere. For the most part, there were lots of locals and first timers. not a lot of 'gear heads' and some people with some seriously old school bikes. i loved that.
best part though - i had made a bet with one of my students about winning this race. The kid (ok, man) had never done a triathlon before but he stuck with the training and pulled himself through to a respectable finish. I was really really proud of him and nearly cried when we passed each other on the run (fortunately i was on the way back in as he was going out). He didn't beat me but he may have found a new favourite sport.