Columbia Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Got knocked around pretty good early on. Worse than ever.I had trouble getting my breathing under control. Stopped and floated for a few seconds. Calmed down, settled in and finished pretty strong. PR by 4 minutes.

Start easier, relax, stay more to the side as there was a bit of a dog leg in the first yellow buoys but more of a straight line from the start to the first turn. No need to hug the yellow, just bee line for the turn buoy. Maybe not eat a Clif shot before the swim. Last two races I did that and both times I had trouble getting breathing under control early. Do not know if it is related but something to monitor.

T1 time bundled with bike time but from doing the math with my race times compared to my Garmin times I may have spent about 4 minutes in T1. Ouch. I wish I could see other peoples T1 times. It was a bit of a distance from the water exit to the bikes. Wet suit off was ok, not great, but my timing strap came off with it. I also put a long sleeve jersey on as it was chilly and raining hard. I was glad I did it at first but maybe not in the long run. I put on my Garmin here too. I do like to have the numbers from it and it only takes a few seconds to put it on. I also put shoes on in transition as it was wet muddy uphill to leave transition, then uphill right at the start from the bike mount and it would have been a while before I could comfortably slip in. I did notice a few of the pros also did not have shoes already clipped in. I will work on riding up hill with feet on top of shoes. Hell, I live on a hill so I could do it every ride!



Leave shoes clipped in, faster off with wet suit, consider no over shirt, timing strap on tighter.

T1 and Bike time bundled but Garmin has me at 1:24:57 for 25.13 with avg mph of 17.7. I didn't reset my bike computer from the last ride so I do not have cadence numbers. Raining pretty hard at the start. Some up hills were tough and the wet roads made the downhills a bit hairy. Chain came off on one big hill and I lost time getting it back on, then mounting and getting started on a hill. There was a spectator out in her driveway and I used her driveway to clip in and get rolling again. After that I was super aware of the chain and it almost came off 2 more times. Each time was going into the smallest ring of the triple on a hill. I think I had too much torque during the shift. What may or may not be related was that after that, the chain kept slipping on the rear cassette when it got down to the smaller rings and was under heavy torque. I have yet to do a mechanical check.

I kept passing and then getting passed by the same couple of racers early on. I'd pass on the uphill, they'd pass on the downhill. Eventually wet evened out but I was wondering who was more inconsistent. Since I was the common denominator I'll say it was me.

I tried to eat a gel but it wasn't sitting well as the cramps from Friday/ Saturday were coming back. I drank some water and some Gatorade E but not a whole lot. I didn't feel thirsty at all but was starting to feel the cramps much more towards the end.

Manage nutrition better in the days leading up to the race. Push harder up hills (I am good at climbing), stay aero on downhills, go faster!
Also, announce more. At one point I was trying to pass a guy who was sort of drifting left and I was close to the double yellow line. I didn't yell out "On your left" because I had room to pass. Some guy comes up behind to pass us both and starts yelling about keeping right. He did cross the double yellow. I don't really think I was in the wrong as I was passing another rider who was too far left. Not my fault if the guy who wanted to pass us both had to cross the double yellow but I could tell he was really pissed

Lost some time getting long sleeve jersey off, then taking off Timex that was still on from the swim and having to readjust the Garmin strap since it had been on the outside. Socks on pretty quickly, Yankz laces so that was quick too

Not wear extra jersey on bike. Maybe work on sockless running

Cramping right from the start. Felt worse on the downhills but I never walked. I did stop once to adjust my right shoe as the toes were going numb. I need to double check the Yankz fit. Slowed a bit by the wet roads and slipping on the downhills, combined with the cramping. It got better after 3 miles or so, the I drank some water at mile 4ish and the cramps came back. They settled again around mile 5 only to be followed by a severe stitch on the other side. That stopped me twice and one time I was almost doubled over. Finished the last half mile or so pressing my fingers hard into my side as that seemed to help. I have never felt pain like that while running. It was terrible and felt like a knife in my side.

Again, manage nutrition better in days leading up to race. Check yank laces.

Stop and sit. Side Pain went away quickly then I realized my legs hurt. Drank water and Gatorade even though I wasn't thirsty and was concerned the cramps would come back. Ate a Clif bar, then walked and stretched a bit. Went up that hill for food but didn't want anything once I got up there. Who the hell puts the food at the top of the hill after such a hilly run???

Oh, and I went right past Chrissy Wellington who was giving out medals. DAMN. My wife was yelling to me but I was pretty incoherent at the time. In fact, the volunteer who took off my chip strap was holding on to me adn I think she thought I was going to fall over


Cramps, weather


Course was very challenging but not too hard. I really enjoyed the race itself even though I struggled badly on the run. I'd like to do the course again but don't know if it was worth an overnight stay. Volunteers were great, course support was great, course itself was great.

Now to whine a bit:

I did think some of the ancillary stuff was pretty weak:

Web site - misinformation and unclear info. Example was Homewood Suites was listed as providing a discount to race participants, but they didn't. Also, I had no idea what the Columbia Inn was but it was mentioned quite a few times in race materials. Found in some fine print that it was the former name of the Sheraton, plus I had to hunt around to get the actual street address

Email - 2 emails to organization got no reply, plus I got spammed very clearly from a global email CTA sent out

Bad grammar & punctuation in materials - petty, but it's a big deal to me for various reasons

Expo - some good deals, but some stuff way over priced. Also, why wait in line to have ID & USAT card checked if they just check again at the actual packet station?

F-UGLY T-Shirt!

Oh, and I didn't like night before bike racking, or the crowded racks. Luckily there was a no show right next to me.