Being my first Oly, my goal was to see how much energy I could expend with each leg of the race and still have good energy for the next leg. I discovered that I didn't push my swim hard enough. I had a moderate pace and could have spent a bit more energy here.

Swim harder. Practice swimming with people hitting me with padded bats while I swim!

I had speedos on under my tri shorts so I could strip them off and put on bike shorts (more padding), so I put down my cap/goggles, then changed shorts, and stuffed a Clif Bar into the side of my bike shorts. I'm on a mtn bike with regular pedals, so I sat down on the curb, brushed off my feet with my towel and pulled on socks/shoes. I have huge laces, so I have to double knot my shoes. That takes way too long. Picked up my helmet and sunnies and started jogging with my bike. I chose not to wear a shirt on the bike (I don't have a race belt yet, but have that on order also!)

I've already ordered speed laces. Maybe just wear the speedos for the swim and then wouldn't have to spend any seconds taking off the tri-shorts. I'm a bit modest to do that though! Ha, ha.

I'm riding a full-suspension mtn. bike that weighs around 35lbs, so it's alot of work compared to the people blasting by me on 18lbs road bikes. Plus, I'm wearing sneakers with regular pedals. The hills were slow and I don't like to ride out of the saddle, so I would get in granny gear up the hills and the road/tri bikers would overtake me. Other problems I have when riding long distances are numb hands (even with my gel gloves), and pain in the perineum (even with well-padded bike shorts), so I'd have to stand up from time to time to relieve the pressure. I ate the stashed Clif Bar before the 3rd lap to give me energy for the run. I have a double cage behind my seat and had water in one with diluted Gatorade/water mix in the other. I alternated between the two and this combo seemed to work well. I maintained consistent energy throughout the bike.
The disaster struck when, with about 3 miles to go in the bike, my chain came off while shifting. My bike, even though it's tuned, tends to have problems staying on the middle ring in front, and jumps down to the first (usually in the middle of a hill climb) which really wrecks my rhythm. I have to downshift and get the chain on track again. This same thing happened in my first sprint try last month. I had wanted to finish the bike in under 1.30, and was on track for that, but the chain took about 5 minutes to get back on, and once on, would skip on the rear deurailler every revolution (I later found out that I had bent on of the links), so the remaining 3 miles of the bike were not fast with the chain skipping every rev. of the chain.
I had no idea where I stood in the race but alot of hardcore tri bikes were passing me in the 2nd lap, and by my 3rd lap, there were few other cyclists in my vicinity. Even in the 5 minutes I was putting my chain back on, only 2 people rode past me.

Get a road bike with aerobars and clipless pedals. Oh, and make sure it shifts smoothly!
Find a more comfortable way to carry a Clif Bar than stuffing it into my bike shorts.

Arriving here it appeared that nearly half the field had already finished the entire race, although some of them would have been from the sprint race they were running concurrently. My bike wouldn't fit properly on the racks (they were kind of low), but my position next to the curb allowed me to lay my bike against the fence. I took off the helmet, grabbed a small flask from my wife's Fuel Belt and stuffed that into my bike shorts, and grabbed a little Clif Shot I had on my transition bag. Then, I pulled on my cotton tank top (have a tri top on order right now), left on my bike shorts, and started running toward the exit with the Clif Shot in one hand and my flask in the other.
As I left T2, I asked a lady if I was the last one on the course, and she assured me that plenty were still behind me. I didn't believe her.

Have a race belt so I wouldn't have to worry about putting a shirt on for the run

Started out slowly on purpose to not run out of energy. It was about 10am when I started running and already around 80 degrees. I had a visor on and white sleeveless cotton t-shirt. I had decided that I'd take water at every water station, but since no one could tell me how many there were going to be on the run, I had a small flask tucked into my shorts. So, I took a cup of water at the first station, which was right outside T2, and gulped 1/2 and poured the rest on my head. I did that at every water station. It worked well to keep me cool. I had never taken gels while training, so this was my chance to test it. Not sure if it helped, but after taking 1/2 the gel with water, my stomach felt slightly crampy, so I threw the rest away. I'll have to experiment more with this.
My pace improved about 1/2 way through the run. I had about 3 people pass me, and I passed about 3 people. A couple of old guys, and one younger guy who I passed in the final mile. I could see the finish line when I was about 1/2 way through the run, and that enabled me to gauge my energy expense for the last 3 miles.

Get a coolmax shirt to run in (on order) so I'm not running in a soaking wet cotton t-shirt, and pick up my pace a little.

Did some light stretching, then walked around the Expo area for a little bit hoping to see my official time. I had started my watch at the beginning of the race, but in my haste, hit the wrong button. My goal was to finish under 3 hours, and I'm not sure if I did or not. The clock said 3.14 when I crossed, but of course my wave started around 15 minutes after the first wave, so I could be close to my goal time.


Partly my equipment (mtn bike, no bike shoes, no speed laces), but partly my lack of speed training. I've been focussing more on my endurance, instead of speed. I feel that I can work on that for next season.
Didn't want to stand in the long line for the free burgers, so I drove to a Philly Cheesesteak place near my house and had a huge cheesesteak sub and fries with a Coke. Yum!!!


It was my first Oly, and was a smaller race, so a good one for me to test things out with. My intent was to see how I needed to pace myself for each leg of the race, so when I do my next Oly in a month, I'll have a better grip on things. I have learned alot with each race I've done (this was my 3rd) and realized that this sport is not cheap, as many have posted on BT, so I'm trying to keep from spending too much $$, but at the same time, want decent equipment to make my races more efficient.