Downtown Columbia Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Why can't I swim???? I've swum this distance in 9:00 several times, but somehow get me in a race and I forget everything. Geez. I know it's lack of experience, but still, this is annoying. Somehow I've got to figure out how to hold my form in a race situation. I have a feeling that I'm working very hard for very little benefit. Anyway, after passing a few people, I was caught from behind by a pack of 4-5 swimmers and I ended up amongst them for the last 250m or so. At that point, flip turns were out of the question, as there was a lot of bunching at the walls.

Focus on form, especially longer strokes.

Reasonably quick. I could have been a bit quicker getting my feet into the shoes. And I don't think I really needed the extra layer -- leaving that out would have saved about 10s, and also would have saved some time on the bike course since it was flapping around a bit.

Don't add a layer when it's that warm.

I'm assuming that the guy with no splits rode faster than me, since he swam slower and beat me by 3 minutes overall. I felt that I mostly rode this well. I think I could have (and maybe should have) gone harder on the flats. I definitely worked it up the hill, and passed loads of people there. The downhill into 5 points was fun -- I was up to nearly 40mph on that hill. Might have hit it once, had it not been for the swerving mountain biker who scared the bejeesus out of me.

I got passed (ultimately) by just one person (a guy whom I had passed earlier), right at the end. I could have passed him back pretty easily, though it would have taken a decent acceleration, and I didn't want to do that to my legs right before the run. Anyway, I beat him out of T2. (On the other hand, he eventually passed me on the run.)

Needed to take in a bit more drink. I felt parched on the run.

Reasonably quick again. I had a bit of trouble getting my feet out of the shoes -- should have started that process a touch earlier, but I was focused on not losing touch with the guy who passed me on the bike at the end. Once again I fooled around with my running belt too much. Just grab it and go! There's plenty of time later to get it fastened. Had a bit of trouble racking the bike -- took two tries.

Grab the running belt and go.

(I'm guessing a bit on the AG rank, assuming that the two guys with no splits must have run faster than me.) I should have taken the cycling vest off. (Actually I never should have put it on.) I ended up unzipping it entirely, but it was bothering me, flopping around. By the turnaround I was absolutely parched. I took a cup of water, and proceeded to choke on it. I've never done that before. Overall, I didn't work hard enough on this run. I should have made it a point to stay with #129. He passed me early on, and I hung with him for a while with the intention of passing back, but somehow in the middle I lost touch. That was pure stupid lack of concentration. Nobody else passed me on the run. Maybe it would have been good if someone had -- that might have woken me up to the fact that I was not going hard enough. I can definitely do this run faster. Maybe I went a little hard on the bike, but I can't blame it all on that,.

Run harder! Lose the vest.

Ate a few bananas. The other food was Hardees burgers that had been 'simmering' in some hot boxes for Lord knows how long. No thanks. Bike home at an easy pace. Stretched later.


Need to stay focused during all three events better. SWIM: focus on form. BIKE: never let up -- I let myself ease up a few times, for no good reason. RUN: Ditto. I can be a few minutes faster on this course. I think I could be an AG contender if I just worked it harder. Of course, learning how to swim would help too -- I'm giving up a couple of minutes on the swim to the AG contenders.


Loads of volunteers -- the bike course was especially well handled. I liked this race. I hope it happens again.