Patriot Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Looked out at the buoys and thought it looked short. It definately was short. I can't swim 1:13 per 100. I'm thinking it was more like an oly distance which at 1650 yards would put my pace at 1:36 per 100 which I believe, and still makes it a swim PB. At anyrate I'll take the free time and say it makes up for all the times the swim is LONG which seems to happen way more often than the swim being short.

My wave was all females 40 and up. It was a pretty mellow swim start. No contact to speak of. Was trying to find a rhythm as best I could and seemed like the first leg went by really quickly. Across the top I did really poorly navigating and started catching people from the wave in front of me. I like that. Cornered well and into the home stretch. Was in a good swimming rhythm by now. It was hard to see the finish from teh middle of the lake and they had fewer buoys on the last leg than the first. I stopped more often on the last leg. Fewer people around me and not sighting well. I was passing people from both my wave and the wave in front of me. Tried to be more aggressive and push my pace the last 2 legs thinking of Morag (masters swim coach) and how she would want me to push faster.

Swam until I could see the bottom well and stood up in knee deep water. Looked at my watch and was SHOCKED to see 25:xx I felt like I had swum well but thats BLISTERING for me. Felt a PR coming on. Saw my coach at the swim finish and he yelled something to the effect of "great job". It was really great to have him there at the race. Ran out and saw Kevin, them Emily into transition trying to get half my wetsuit off.

THANKS MORAG for making me a better swimmer and WILL for making me a better triathlete:)

Be a little more aggressive a little earlier.

Race time 2008: 2:43
Chip time 2008:
Race time 2009: 3:34
Chip time 2009: 2:25

We had to run around the periphery of the transition area which I realized later was because they could not have swimmers coming in and bikers going out in the same place. Everyone in the T area ws saying "was that swim short" Then "We'll take it!!" I'll take at least 10 minutes in the bank ANYDAY.

Got the wetsuit off with no trouble but had trouble getting my bike shoes on as usually I have them elesticed on the bike. I elected not to do that in this race due to 1-loads of goose poop and 2- the mount line is at the bottom of a hill and I was not sure how riding with my feet on my choes would work. I think I made the right choice but its a step I am not used to. Glasses, helmet, bike off I go. Ran out of T1 and saw my coach again. I walked some as I'm not used to running/walking in the bike shoes. the timing mat was a good distance from the mount line. I hit my watch after I got clipped in hence the difference in chip time vs my race time.

Run a little more. I'm bad at running in transition. I think I made the right choice with the shoes tho.

So clipping in was a challenge cause once again I usually don't do that in a race but got both shoes successfully clipped in and off I go. You had to go slow getting out of the park. I was able to be aggressive earlier than last year. Thing about New England races is I tend to forget I'm racing and start sight seeing on the bike. I did better than usual with this on race day. I leaped frogged with a couple people. After I went down the worst of the bad roads I was thinking...hhmmmmm geez Ott you really put these handle bars on flatter than usual.......Then I realized they were loose...DUH. If I got aero I could pull them back up but it made me twitchy for a while til I realized they weren't going to fall off. I was cruising really well and pretty happy with my pace. I was a little cold. The young guns didn’t start to pass me til about ½ way thru the first loop. Felt pretty good about that.

There isn’t a whole lot to tell. I was pretty scared going down the first big hill the first loop because it used to be one solid pot hole and with my bars being loose I was nervous. I saw a guy in a Donkai tri shirt that I yelled at not realizing it was Rudy. No need for fluids in these cool temperatures. Made the first loop in 1:30 and saw Kevin and the Girls as I went by.

Second loop I realized I could have gone a LOT harder the first loop so made an effort to kick it up a notch. I had 240 calories of accelerade to start and used 4 gels throughout the bike. HIM nutrition is SSSSOOOOO much easier than IM nutrition. Refilled the aerobottle once but never used my second bottle on the bike. Up and down hills, past the pretty grazing sheep, Ooopss I’m racing. Down the big hill more aggressively, thru the lakes almost back. I was getting pretty miffed with myself as I know I am capable of a better bike and really tried to push things more the last 10 miles or so. My tactical error of the day was that normally I bike with an orthotic in my left shoe. Because I leave my old bike shoes on the cape I didn’t have the orthotic and it took a big toll on my left foot. I’ve been having a lot of soreness in it and have a capsulitis at my second MTP joint and that was really hurting. Live and learn. Took my feet out of my shoes in front of the camp and the only time I had significant problems with the aero bars was into T2 because now its DOWNHILL and they kept dropping DDOOOWWNN. Glad to be off the bike at any rate.


Bike more. Be more aggressive earlier. Proper shoe inserts. Tighten aerobars :) It was a couple minutes faster but my bike mileage this year is patheticaly low and it showed.

Race time 2008: 3:54
Chip time 2008:
Race time 2009: 2:36
Chip time 2009: 2:04



Rack the bike helmet and glasses off, sit to dry my feet and put on shoes and socks. Hat and race belt on, grabbed my cliff shot blocks and my hand held drink bottle. I had all the sticky icky gel packets in my race shirt so I threw those out on the way out of T2. Unfortunately that left me doing an impression of a human gu package and now I was all sticky icky. Saw Cat in T2 and said Hi as she blew by me.

So off I go running thru the mud. Saw Kevin and the girls at the run exit and happily trotted on. I was looking forward to having 13.1 miles to practice my new running drill that my coach had given me on Thursday. During the first mile I stopped and walked long enough to eat 2 shot blocks and then kept going. My left foot was quite bothersome from trying to push hard on the bike. DUH Ott. First mile was in about 11 minutes which was good considering I had walked some. Hit mile 2 at about 22 minutes so a steady pace. Foot still sore and it’s a pass Sue fest as usual. Got to mile 2 still managing an 11ish mile pace which I was cool with. Mile 4 about the same and I think I topped off my hand held with some water and took 3 more shot blocks about this time as well. I passed one of the tri-hard girls on the bike and she passed me back on the run about this point as well so we yelled words of encouragement at each other.

Mile 7.1 I was thinking I had a chance to break 6:15……I knew I had 6:30 (pre-race goal) in the bag as was the PR my best HIM being 6:45ish. For some reason EVERY time I do a ½ marathon stand alone or in a HIM I always get it in my head I have 5 miles left at 7 miles DUH I mean I have a degree in math for goodness sake you would think I would know that 7+5=12 not 13…DUH Anyway that little knot consumed my thoughts for a while. Ok I STILL had a chance but I would really have to run well. I also started wondering how I could possibly have done the swim in 25:xx and perhaps someone kicked my watch and stopped it then kicked it again and turned it on and I was actually not having a great race. Then again there really wasn’t much contact on the swim…..

My main impressions were that this year the run sucked a whole lot less than it had last year. The hills were easier although still difficult for a Florida flatlander. As far as my new running drill after awhile I just had to do what hurt the least and I kind of had to throw it out the window. I hit mile 5 in just under an hour so approaching 12 minute miles. I ran most of this running up the hills as far as I could til I started to cramp then walking the rest of the way. Sometimes I would take an extra walk break if things were really hurting. My foot was sore but quieted a little and basically I was just trying to make the painful, spastic, insensate stubs AKA my legs, move me in a forward direction as fast as possible. This is completely NOT a cardio issue it’s a leg tired/sore/painful issue. I can will them to go as fast as possible they just have a mind of their own. The run seemed to go much faster this year and suddenly I was at mile 10. I knew at this point my dreams of 6:15 were gone but I could go for 6:20 and possibly 6:18 which would be a 30 minute improvement over this race last year. ONLY 5K left WHOOP WHOOP. Mile 10 is a GLORIOUS downhill by the way. Mile 11 only the equivalent of one loop around the lake left. YAY. There was a lady around mile 11 who apologized for the humidity…….HA I said I’m from florida this is like the dessert to me!!! No worries!!! I was sure to thank all the volunteers and police officers throughout the run and bike.

Finally up one more hill and there is the camp. I ran all the last part after the big hill in this year. Nice to run on the soft grass. Then there were my parents!!! They came up when the predicted crap weather turned into a very pleasant summer day. Finished and met KOM and got my water, towel and medal. There was my coach all smiling and happy for me and grinning from ear to ear as was his partner and me too for that matter. Gave him a big sweaty hug.


I think I need a leg transplant please....maybe some nice Kenyan legs?
I really can't complain about a 12 minute improvement though...its all good.

Race time 2008: 6:48:21
Chip time 2008: 6:48:21
Race time 2009: 6:20:03
Chip time 2009: 6:20:03

Lots of BTers at the finish. Kevin snapping pictures and the girls, my mom and dad, my coach, Helen, Rudy, KOM, trirific10 and a bunch of others. I really was 6:20 after all and nothing had happened to my watch. My coach was so happy for me as was everyone else. I went over to the Tri-Hard tent and got my flops and sat and talked to my coach a bit. Then I went off to find my parents and they had DIET COKE!!YUMM. Marianne finished shortly after I did so all us BTers got together. We went down and took a little dip in the cool lake to get the outer layer of grime off and it really helped my legs a lot. Went to the finish and we all cheered Kathy in. She had a great day as well. We got some mini massages and FOOD. My mom and dad took off after Kathy finished. Cleaned up transition and got some dry clothes on and felt MUCH MUCH better. When all the BTers had finished we all went out to a great dinner.

Congrats to everyone who participated. It was a great day.





Under trained on the bike. Not an ounce of running ability. Should be 15-20# lighter.


I really like this race despite all the sooper fast people in it. I get to go home and see my parents and spend time on the cape and visit with all my NE BT friends. I love having my coach there. His company is one of the sponsors of the race. Its great to have him there as he knows my triathlon journey best and to be able to share a good day with him is really special. THANK YOU WILL!!!