Over The Mountain Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Completed as directed with wetsuit. Felt pretty good in the water after 300m warmup with drills. Got good position on the inside of the course at the start and headed off to a smooth swim. Focused on long steady strokes. Minor traffic issues at the turn and straight in for finish. Felt like I swam straight and strong with good sighting. Probably didn't push as hard as I could have as I was holding back a bit for the upcoming ride and run. (HR was definitely high when I got out of the water...only came down to under 180 when I got off on the bike.) Passed a lot of my wave and the two waves prior...didn't feel like many passed me at all.

Push harder through entire swim, not saving up for bike and run.

Long climb up hill from transition mat to TA. Baby steps until got my breath back, wetsuit peeled down during run up to TA. Point to point nature of race slowed me a bit as I stowed my gear in bag and double checked to make sure I had everything.

Think through items needed and gear stowing for point to point race.

HR seemed very high headed out on bike. Pushed hard, but let HR drop to 160s, still passing a lot of folks. Focused hard on water every 2 min of race and picked up a second bottle at bottle exchange. Used 5oz EFS gel throughout ride and felt very good with results. Realized I was a little fast at mile 5 (13:50) and mile 10 (26:40), but knew I had some climbing to do. Shifted very well into, during, and exiting from hills, keeping my HR down and focusing on cadence and HR instead of speed. Got passed by one guy entire ride and picked through the crowd pretty easily. While I pushed hard, I didn't feel as "frantic" as during WLS.

Had some back pain in left lower back during ride, forcing me to sit up and stretch on the bike when possible (stayed in aero about 70% of time).

Not much...more core work to help eliminate back issues?

Smooth and deliberate transition. Took a hydration belt with me and another quick 1oz of EFS.

Not much.

Headed out on the run feeling a little tight. Within first 800M, both my hamstrings locked up hard, almost bringing me to a halt. Stopped to stretch and continued on, unable to bend my knees more than about 15deg from straight, shuffling on. Gradually eased out stride and eventually got into a more normal running gait as run progressed.

Back problems stayed on the bike and didn't have any issued on run outside of hamstrings. Still pretty wiped from the bike...didn't trade off enough time from the bike for the run...never really felt in control of the run as I do in standalone 10K+ runs. Happy I had the hydration belt with me - water stops were not well-managed (got handed lemon lime HEED and dumped it over my head thinking it was water at the 1mi mark...bad on me for not checking.)

Got passed by 4 or 5 in my AG on the run - I had nothing to catch them.

Better prep coming in off bike to stretch legs. Nutrition? T2 quick stretching?

Walked out legs for about 1.5 miles after race.


Didn't push hard enough on swim, didn't ease off enough on run. Leg issues on run.


Great race, average performance.