Langley Pond Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

OK, so I suck at sighting and swimming straight. That became clear. It seems that I pull to the right, which (since this was a counter-clockwise swim) kept pulling me wide of the course. I think I managed to turn 1500m into 1700m. I felt fairly comfortable the whole time. I had a few 'tussles' with other swimmers, but no kicks in the face or the like. I didn't swim super hard. Since my swim training has been so spotty lately, my only real goal was to finish and get on to the bike. The actual swim time was less because there was a bit of a run to the timing mat (and quite a run after that to T1).

Learn how to sight? Learn how to swim straight?

This was not the greatest T1, although not as bad as it looks, because there was a LONG run to T1 after the swim timing mat. Wetsuit came off fine. I don't really think the Body Glide did anything for me. I'll probably forget about it next time. I didn't do the flying mount because I was really close to the exit, and the bike started with a hill right off the bat.

Screwed around a bit too much.

I managed to forget to turn the Garmin on, so I was riding without the targeting computer. I also forgot the straw to the aero bottle. Fortunately, I noticed that before the event started and put a water bottle on the bike, so this was only a minor inconvenience, and the least of my frustrations. Early in loop 1, on the climb, I passed what can only be called a paceline. They caught back up to me, still riding as a pack, about 3/4 the way through the loop, then, once they passed me, immediately slowed down. Very annoying. Individually, I was faster than them (as far as I can tell), but to get around them collectively, I had to ease up for a minute to gather some strength. Then I went past them. They passed me (still as a pack, though I think they had dropped two riders at that point) again, right before the climb (on loop 2). These guys knew EXACTLY what they were doing, and seemed to think it funny, and I was extremely pissed off at this point. Just then, the draft marshal showed up and nailed them. Apparently the marshal didn't nail the guy in the front of the pack (who ended up with one of the 'fastest' bike times) because technically at that moment he wasn't drafting. They knew they were booked, so I figured that I only needed to pass them one more time, and the climb was a good place to do it. One of them -- the only truly strong rider among them (and the one who didn't get booked), hung with me enough to pass me right at the end. At that point, I kept him in sight, but let him go, hoping to pass on the run (which is in fact what happened).

These guys really ruined my ride. 2:00 penalty is not enough. They should be flogged. They were not a bunch of clueless newbies -- they knew exactly what they were doing. Mr. fast even tried to joke with me about it on the run, but I was in no mood to joke. They caused me some time on the bike, and forced me to do some accelerations that I shouldn't have had to do. (If it were one person who did this to me, then fine; but doing it as a paceline really made me mad. I think I'm still angry about it, which is silly, but it is what it is...).

Probably I didn't go hard enough, which is a theme for me on the bike.

A decent transition. Still for some reason I feel compelled to buckle the running belt while standing at the rack. Just grab it and go!

I was a little slow at first -- I ran the first three miles at 7:00/mile -- but around mile 3 someone passed me and that woke me up. He was faster than me, but I was able to use him as a rabbit, and kept him in sight all the way to the end. So it turned out to be a decent time.

Be willing to push a little earlier. Drink better.

I liked this race. I just wish I could swim! I give up too much time on the swim to be competitive in my AG.