Pinchot Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

Since I was primarily concerned with finishing, I treated the swim as a warm-up for the bike and run portions of the race. Slow and steady focusing more on form than anything else. I still cannot navigate well and spent most of the swim slightly off course. None the less, no muscle cramps, no OW freak out, only a little bit of swallowed lake water, and my form only broke down towards the end as I was tired of swimming.
I was out of the water at 31:??, 4+ minutes under my goal.

Train more on distance and speed. My form is far from perfect, but I think I "focus on form" when training as an excuse to avoid working harder or longer.

The switch from being horizontal to vertical was rough on my body. I ran to transition with no problems, but once I arrived became dizzy. Every time I was on one leg (out of wetsuit, socks on, shoes on) I thought I might fall over. Still, transition went alright overall and while I might have been able to get out 10-20 seconds sooner had I not been dizzy, I was happy.

Getting out of T1 I take things easy knowing that there is a steep hill coming soon. This pays off, as I manage to get up the hill okay. I feel pretty rough the first lap as I drank too much fluid throughout the morning and was on the verge of vomiting during all the hill work. Despite this I was happy with the bike. I did not hit my goal time. Perhaps I was too conservative in my pacing and could have pushed harder, but with my little hybrid bike I was still working the entire 27 miles.

Better regulate my fluid intake. It started with too much coffee in the morning and never really improved. Also, push harder during training to build up muscle mass and speed for race day. As I primarily ride my bike to commute to work, I tend to take it easy too often.

Great transition, no problems.

Off the bike I was struggling. I didn't have the "brick" phenomena, but I clearly was not running as fast as I normally do. I was able to jog about 2 miles before my ITB started acting up. I then ran/walked/ran/walked for about 2 miles and needed to walk the last 2 miles because my knee was in such pain.
It was somewhat demoralizing to have people passing me saying "you can do it" when in fact I couldn't. Not because I was out of shape or too tired, but because I was in too much pain. That being said, I was able to take a little consolation in knowing that it wasn't "my" fault I had to walk so much of the run, it was "the knee's" fault. Hopefully I can use the winter to get the whole ITB issue under control so next year I can race well in all three disciplines.

As much as I want to blame my knee for the problems, in truth I did not stretch as much as I should have in the weeks leading up to the race and knew it was a definite possibility that my knee could do me in. I really need to do whatever is needed to get my knee taken care of before next year.

Having walked the last 2 miles of the race, I was fairly "cooled down" when I crossed the finish line. I did do some stretching, but nothing too intense as I was exhausted.


Overall, a lack of training. Not being able to train much over the last month really effected my ability to perform. Additionally the knee was obviously a big factor and a more race-appropriate bike would help.


Longest swim ever, check. Longest bike ride ever, check. Longest run ever, check. All in one event, not so bright. That said, it feels really good to have a season of racing under my belt. Reflecting on what I looked and felt like last September compared to this September, I feel like a new person. I can't wait until next year!