Sylvania Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

At my last race, there was excessive contact at the swim start (even had my chip stripped). I wanted to avoid that all costs this time. So, I lined up on the outside about middle of the pack. When the cannon went off, I allowed my natural tendency to drift left (outside) to just occur.

Ended up swimming the first 600 meters about 20 yards from the buoy line. This worked great for me. I could site off other swimmers when I breathed to the right and just tried to keep a consistent distance between me and them. Obviously, there was no way to draft but I was relaxed and feeling strong.

By the first turn buoy, I gotten back to within 5 yards of the buoy line. Made the first turn and was totally blinded (even with tinted goggles). All I saw was the sun and mist. Just tried to swim as straight as I could. Ended up drifting left, so I took the next turn VERY wide.

Got into some shallow water about 400 meters from the end. Had to do a few dolphin dives to get back on course (ironically the same thing happened last year). Home stretch was very uneventful. Swam until my hands touched bottom, did two dolphin dives and ran up the shore.




Nothing. This was by far, the best swim I've ever had. Probably could have conserved some energy had I stayed closer to the buoys and found some feet to draft off of. I think staying relaxed was well worth the extra energy.

Had a little trouble getting the wet suit off. Just could not find the pull cord. I don't think this cost me any time as I kept moving while trying to grab it, but it did cause a mild panic (the thought of having to ride the entire bike in a wet suit actually crossed my mind--maybe I need to breath more on the swim, oxygen deprivation causing hallucinations ;-)

Rest of the transition was business like. Helmet on, wet suit off, shoes and socks on. Good run to the mount line hopped on the bike and was off.

This was a good transition. Need to practice getting the wet suit off faster--it still gets caught on my heels.

As soon as you made the turn onto Sylvania it was instant head wind. The winds didn't seem too strong at the race start so I decided to try to hammer through it. Made it about four miles like that. I knew I was going to blow up my legs if I kept going. So I reluctantly dropped into the small chain ring and spun as best as I could.

Next 12 miles were just about staying as aero as possible and finding the comfortable gears to ride in. It was great having draft marshals out on the course. I didn't see any drafting and only a little bit of blocking (I think some of the blocking was just forgetting to move back over when avoiding a pothole). In the first 16 miles, only averaged about 18.5mph and I was working for that.

Finally, we made the turn for home and the wind was at our back. It was hammer time. Moved back to the big ring and did a bit of mashing. Averaged about 23mph in this section.



Not sure. I ride all the time in farm country, so I am used to winds. Today they just took more out of me than normal. If I backed off the bike some, I might have had a better run--but then again I might not have.

As we approached the dismount line there were three people in front of me who were not riding on one pedal. Figured they were going to stop to dismount so I got as far away from them as I could (didn't need to be involved in a pile up). Soon as I hit the dismount line I started running and blew by the three people who stopped to dismount.

Rest of transition was again very business like. Bike racked, helmet and biking shoes off, running shoes on, grab the race belt and go.

Absolutely nothing. Don't think I could have gone any faster.

Soon as I exited transition my stomach was upset and bloated. It wasn't comfortable, but was manageable. Didn't take anything at the first aid station hoping it would settle down. Did the first mile in 7:50. A little slower than I was hoping for but was reasonably confident I could pick it up if I could get my stomach to settle down.

At the next aid station my stomach was still upset. Decided to try some water to see if that helped any. I felt a little better, so I decided to go with some more water at the next aid station as well. Unfortunately, the water reaked of sulfur and I had to throw it out (have no idea where they got unsoftened well water in the middle of a city). Hit the half way point in 25 minutes.

I was starting to fade about mile four. My legs felt heavy from the ride and I was running out of go go juice (usually take in more calories during the run). Even with the stomach problems I was having, decided to risk taking a caffeinated gel. Don't know if was placebo effect or real, but I felt better in a few minutes later and actually thought I could finish strong.

Unfortunately, about mile five, I got the worst side stitch I've ever had. I was forced to walk to work it out. Tried to limit the walking to only 10 seconds, but it took three of those 10-second walk breaks to work it out. After that, it wasn't gone, but was manageable so I was able to run the rest of the way in.






Not have digestive issues. Not sure what happened, I've used this same nutrition in other Olympic distance races (and long rides) and was just fine.

Chatted with my family (mom, dad, sister, nephew, grandma, uncle and aunt) and after awhile went and got some food and a beer. Who knew a Coors Light could taste so good.


I felt I was ready for this race and had expectations of setting a PR (actually thought I did set a PR until I realized I must have accidentally stopped my watch while taking the wet suit off). It just wasn't my day. Still, I only missed my PR by 15 seconds so I think the training is there.


I've done this race two years in a row and it is by far the best race in the area. Elite Endeavors has this one perfected.