Good news: stayed in the washing machine, didn't get freaked out, sighting was better.
Bad news: didn't push nearly hard enough. I was dogging it.

Swim harder.

Got arms out and my goggles and swim cap off and stuck into the suit arm just fine, but had trouble getting my legs free. Took too long to put on the jersey. Couldn't figure out which side of my socks was up.

20/20 AG in T1, and I earned every second.

My T1 times will continue to be bad until I start training transitions. Pure and simple. Still need a tri top. Mark the socks or go without. Also find a better headband solution than a bandanna, it takes too long.

This is where I knew things weren't going well. At some point I realized I wasn't racing so much as enduring. I just didn't have it in me to kick into high gear; admittedly I'm better on hills than flats, but I should have done 20-21mph easy.

Had to pee on second lap, trying to do that on the bike during a race turned out to be harder than I thought.

Mostly a motivational issue, see below. Ride itself was OK, just not nearly aggressive enough.

18/20 AG in T2. Had problems re-racking the bike; I should have tossed my wetsuit to the side instead of putting it over the rack.

Practice

And this is where it all fell apart. For starters, I came out of the bike with gut cramps and felt an definite need for the port-a-johns (never done that before in a race), where it turned out to be a false alarm.

Then, I had a knee problem going in, but I probably could have pushed through it if I'd had the proper attitude. I just wanted to finish without exacerbating an injury at this point, so stopped at regular intervals to walk. My form got sloppy, and just before the turnaround my kneecap started mistracking and something went POP. I was even slower after that.

Training and motivation. See below. Also, I need to build more heat tolerance.

Walk, stretch, food, 15m massage


Inadequate training -- in the long term, being unprepared for this distance; in the short term, overtraining.



I got exactly the race I deserved for my choices. I'm OK with that in the larger sense even though I'm not happy with my performance. This isn't whining, it's self-criticism, which I need to do in order to not make the same mistakes.

I knew things were going wrong the week before the race. I couldn't sleep and my base HR was way up, but I decided to push through anyway. By Wednesday I was fatigued to the point where I quit on a group ride, and every run was spiritless. I just didn't want to be out there.

I've done three races in three weeks -- an Oly-ish distance KBR, a sprint, and this Oly -- and I think it was too much for my experience level. The last sprint was great, but I should have waited a bit before the next race. I exceeded my physical and tolerance, and cut back on running time to recover, which was probably the worst choice. I probably could have pushed harder physically, but I was past caring. I suppose it's a refreshing change to reach my mental limits before my physical ones.

Every race I've done before this, I was excited to be there. Nervous sometimes, yes, and questioning why I do it, but still excited. This one, not so much. Nobody was there to see me. If it weren't for my stubborn belief that the only two ways to end a race are at the finish line or in an ambulance, I might have DNF'd, and ashamed to admit that.

Ironically enough I think the course was too easy and that contributed to the problem; I knew I could dog it and finish anyway. I do much better with hilly races. I'm a good climber -- I love blowing past people on fast bikes every time there's a decent grade -- and it demands intensity that gets me motivated for the rest of the race.

Oh well, live and learn. I'm taking July off from racing, and instead focusing on making my training more consistent, and resetting my attitude.