Columbia Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

OK, first off, I question whether they measured the swim correctly, because I feel like I had a TERRIBLE swim, and BT is saying I swam at a 1:48? I know a wetsuit helps, but I barely SPRINT laps at a 1:48. If the course was not mis measured, I must be wasting a LOT of time at the turn arounds in the pool.

I feel like I swam several miles this morning (I know it wasn't but it sure feels that way). This was my first open water swim, and it showed. I had heard it was better to start to the right, so I did that. Unfortunately I was also drifting right. When I finally looked up to really sight, I was 10 to 15 ft from the shore, and a kayaker was headed straight toward me. Great, so I make a bee line back into the crowd. This pattern repeated 3 or 4 more times, with me zig-zagging across the lake. I had a couple of bumps and collisions with other guys, but nothing too bad. A younger female in the wave behind me caught me about half way through, and I know others were finishing at the same time as me.

Again, I really felt like I had a horrid swim the whole day, so I was VERY surprised when I saw my time. I must have really been hauling butt (for me) when I was actually swimming.

Swim in a straight line, and obviously sight a LOT more. I need major practice sighting, and open water swimming.

Ug, I had a horrible T1. And I'm hating hating that this is getting mixed in with the bike split in the official results, because I had a good bike split (for me). I was a little dizzy and disoriented after coming out of the water, so that slowed me down a lot. Then I got to my bike, and put my shoes on, then started to put my helmet and other stuff on. Then I realized that I STILL HAD MY WETSUIT ON. Oops. So off come the shoes. And my socks. And then they fell in the mud. Then my shirt got twisted inside out, because I dropped in while picking up my sock. Need I go on?

Obviously take my wetsuit off before putting my shoes on.

I started out a little slower than I had to, partially from being a little discombobulated from the swim, and partially because I was a little freaked out by the wet roads. I got over both very quickly, and started pushing harder. I passed A LOT of people on the ride. I felt like I was constantly shouting "left!". But I had a great time cycling in the competitive environment. All the hill work I do here in Fred-neck county was really paying off, as I was often passing on the uphills. My bike is still having some issues shifting, but only from the small cog to the large cog in the front. It slowed me down for a min or two on two separate occasions.

Not much. I had a very good ride for me.

I pulled my cycling gloves off while riding slowly behind an FJ cruiser trying to get back in the park. When I got to the dismount line, I slowly stopped, and got off. A guy beside me, who I had been close to for the final few miles, tried a much fancier "flying dismount" move. It looked like it hurt when his foot hit the wet cement and he skidded down. I ran my bike to its rack, pulled off the helmet, and through on my hat. I changed shoes quickly, and grabbed my (still running) Garmin off the bike and grabbed my race belt. I put both of those on while heading out of the transition area. 33rd place in my Age group, 241 total.

Not much. There's not much I can complain about.

Running is my strong suit, so I had really wanted to have gas left in the tank to have a good run. Overall, I did, though I did under-estimate the hills slightly. I was hoping for a 7:00 min/mile pace, so I was a little off (mainly because I had to walk for 2-3 min to lower my HR on one of the massive up-hills). I may suck as swimming, but it is somewhat gratifying to pass people on the run. I drank just enough water and Gatroade to stay hydrated. The hills on this course were ridiculous, and I run on hills on a fairly regular basis.

I would have run or walked the course ahead of time, so that I could have paced myself a little better on the hills. I had heard it was hilly, but didn't know it was going to be helacious. I was hating myself for having to walk for 2.5 min, and if I had known the course I think I could have paced it out better.

Walked around for a while, the jogged to the transition area to get some long sleeves and a camera. Then I waited for B to finish. After she crossed, we met up with some fellow BT'ers, then some co-workers. We grabbed a few bites and watched the age group awards, then went to transition to clean up our mess. Afterwords we went to the Ellicot City Brew Pub for some well earned brews.


Being a crappy swimmer, and having a slow as molasses T1. Otherwise, I think this was a great first effort for me, and I feel like I had a good race.


This was my first tri, so I don't have a huge basis of comparison. But, it compared favorably to many of the races I've done. The post race festivities were a little dull, but I think that was mainly the cold and the rain sending people home.