Cranberry Country Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Goal was to survive the swim and finish around 30 minutes, which I met both goals. I don't think I sighted to well. I felt like I was far to the right of the pack, but it also meant I didn't get kicked. It may have added distance to my swim, though, which I don't like. Buoys were very easy to site being that they were big and orange. Lake was shallow in areas and I definitely swam through some of those areas. Not very clear, but not needed. Water was like glass. Perfect conditions. Quite happy with swim time, but would definitely like to improve.

More direct line to buoys. Start more in the center versus off to the right like I started. Get a swim coach as I have lots of room for improvement on my swim!

First time trying the transition with bike shoes attached to bike and trying to "jump on bike". Not very good at the jumping on bike part yet, but this is first race trying it! Need to practice that more. Overall, the transition went very well and my time is up there with the some of the top people.

Need to work on getting out of the suit more quickly. Probably could have ran to transition area more quickly.

Goal was a minimum 20 mph, which I met! Bike felt really easy to me. I just felt "right". I felt in a groove. Maybe its because I cleaned and lubed my chain this week and put my racing tires on? I thought the course was relatively easy and quite enjoyable. Scenery was actually quite nice. Great shade along the course. Very few uphills, and plenty of good downhills.

Pass slower people more quickly especially when coming to bad sections of road. Since I had never ridden the course before today, I didn't know when the bad sections were coming, though. So, I might ride the course once before this race just to know where bad sections of road are and when to make sure I pass people. Got stuck behind some folks on those bad patches and also on some minor hills, which slowed me down.

First time attempting the dismount with bike shoes attached to bike, with feet riding on top of shoes. I find this quite easy. However, when coming in to the transition, I ended up behind someone who stopped sooner than I was expecting, so I never got time to dismount properly and got stuck in the old stop with both feet over the bar, then swing leg over bar. Oh well, at least I got the swim to bike mount OK!

Veer off to the side to avoid another racer and have area to dismount properly so I can continue with my momentum into the transition area.

Goal was to finish with a sub 8 min/mile pace I made it. I felt it a bit on the run. Some minor pains in the side. Quads were a bit tight to start the run, but loosened up. Overall, pretty happy with my run!

More bricks and speed sessions. I wouldn't do anything differently during the race, though.

Nice, they provided cold, wet towels to rinse off with and cold water in a bike bottle. Used the towel to dry sweat and salt off me. Ate half a banana while drinking the water. Signed up for a free massage and got it about 15 mins after finishing race. Got some of the BBQ food, although, not quite feeling ready for food - just ate the potato salad and pasta salad and a few bites of chicken.


Lack of training.


I thought it was a bit easy of a course. Hard to weed out people since bike was so flat and run was pretty flat. Race was VERY well run, though. We started the first wave of swimmers at 8:15 versus 8:00, that's the only thing that ran late. It seemed like all the porta-potties ran out of toilet paper before the race even started. NOT good. About the only bad spot during the entire race. Wish I could have hung out for post race activities and awards, but had to get home to my dogs. Great first olympic distance race for me! Looking forward to a HIM next year. :)