Prairie View Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Felt very relaxed on the swim and swam my own race. A little peeved that wetsuits were not permitted. Water temp was 78 degrees --and beginning at 630a the announcer pronounced that wetsuits were NOT permitted. I checked with the RD at 7:15a to confirm --even though USAT allows use of the wetsuit at 78 degrees (just can't qualify for awards --not that that's a concern for me). RD said that 3Ds policy is wetsuits are legal up to 77 degrees (HMMMM, ok, more exacting standard at a USAT-sanctioned event, but oh well). And then, about 745a (15 min. before the 8am start of the OLY, I hear the announcer say, "Water temp is 78 --no wetsuits if you want to qualify for awards" -- SAY WHAT??? Arrgh! By this point, everyone is basically NOT in wetsuits. In any event, it turned out to be no big deal; I was happy with the swim without the wetsuit. But I was pschologically counting on the use of it (especially since I didn't feel like racing today any way).

I might of pushed it just a little bit harder.

Time in T1 was higher than I thought it should be --but it includes the run off the beach and up the hill to T1.

I could have hammered a little bit more on the bike, but I was dreading the run, so I wanted to leave just a little bit in me for the run (HAHAHA!)

MY sinuses/cold have been bugging me this past week and I was a goopey mess on the bike (sorry). T2 was a chance to clean up a bit (gross, I know), so I'm actually pretty pleased with the time.

Not have sinus/cold issues.

Course was very well marked with signs, arrows, volunteers, and mile markers. I actually stopped and walked around mile 4 --and at the mile 4 aid station --just didn't feel like I had energy left. Had some water and a little gatorade (was worried about side stitches). No problems basically on that front. Then mile 5 came, then mile 6, then saw my wife and my two sons, and my oldest ran down the finishers chute with me --pretty cool.

I still need to run faster. Ugh. I hate running.

Walked around a bit, found the fam, ate watermelon, drank H2O/gatorade. Eventually had some pizza, then a quick dip back in the lake to get the race grime off me.


I really didn't feel like doing this race --tired after this season and looking forward to the off season. But I had paid for the registration (I'm too cheap to forgo the fee), so gotta do it. Haven't felt great during the prior week because of the sinus/cold issue, and then there was the no wetsuit fiasco. When I heard that last part about no wetsuits, I thought about switching to the Sprint distance. But I knew I wouldn't live that down in my own mind and would beat myself up over it, so I just did it. All in all, I'm happy with my performance.


3D has taken some knocks this year, mainly because (I recall) lack of volunteers. 3D did a nice job with this one (as they did last year). Only gripe --as you have already noticed-- is the wetsuit rule. 3D's website even says: "Water temps have historically been in the low 70's for this event. Wetsuits will be allowed."