After my swim at the last Olympic tri I did about a month ago, I though I was making progress with swim form, etc. I seemed to have taken a few steps back from that. I feel like I started out OK but I think I was going too hard and my breathing deficit started to build and build and build. Normally when I'm swimming laps I will breather right, stroke, breath right, stroke, stroke, breathe left, stroke, breathe left, stroke, stroke, breathe right, etc. This normally keeps me at a good, slow enough pace that I do not enter a huge deficit. During race day, that strategy tends to go out the window and I tend to start breathing on the right side on every stroke. About halfway through the course I was to the point where I felt like I was hyperventilating. My breaths were so short and shallow. Once you build up to this level of difficiency it feels impossible to get back to a normal breathing pattern, so I just suffered through it, taking intermittent breaks.

I need to figure out how to stay out of the breathing deficit. This basically cause me to swim for proabably 25+ minutes with my HR through the roof, probably redling at 180 or something like that. I think blowing up on the swim, especially in these longer events, can wreak havock on your performance throughout the race. I believe this is one of the areas that if I can master, I will be able to improve my overall performance, maybe not by a faster swim time, but with more available endurance and energy left in the middle and end of the race.

Run up a short, steep hill to get to T1 did not allow HR to get back to normal. Most people walked from the water to T1. Very few people ran.

Macon is HILLY. Although Wisconsin has a few longer climbs thrown in the course, I think the Macon course is almost as hilly. No flat portions, you are either going up or down. When I jumped on the bike my HR was 180 BPM. I felt like I was battling the entire time to keep it under control. The course was cool, and I normally love hills. Today I was not feeling it. May be due to being sick the past couple of weeks. Oh, another thing is that we were battling a headwind the entire day. going up hill, downhill, on straightaways, around corners. Wind, wind, wind, wind. One good thing that came out of this is that after a year of riding my current tri bike, I have finally come to the determination that it just is not the right fit. The frame is too big for me at 59 cm. And the manufacturers website says it's best used in flats and only marginally good in hills. So I'm pretty pumped to start looking at new bikes again. I'm thinking about the Felt B12 and will try to test ride it this weekend.

Have a better swim so I don't start the bike in a deficit. Get a bike that fits me and is designed to handle hills better than the Blade.

Had thoughts of DNFing before even starting the run, but pushed them to the side. The sun was in full force by the time I got to the run. I think it was in the area of 94 degrees out. It came as a rude awakening that all 13.1 miles of the course were run on hot asphalt, with no shade to speak of. The good thing was that there was an aid station at every mile, and they were mostly well-stocked with water, Heed, coke, and some munchies. I made it through about 5 miles running most of the way and walking the rest stops and the hills. After that I had to do a run walk combo the rest of the way. Actaully had a couple friends catch up to me at about mile 9 and ran/walked the rest of the way with them. Was so happy when I got to the finish line.

Be able to get through the swim and bike with enough gas left in the tank to be able to run longer, fresher. I think I did a pretty good job with staying hydrated and fueled, I just didn't have the energy reserves to pull on. Even though I was over being sick, I could still feel that my chest was not 100% so I'm sure it had an effect on performance as well.

Food, a beer, shower, than Mexican food and margaritas


Blowing up on the swim and never being able to recover after that. The heat and sun on the run.


Even with all my negative comments, this was a really great race and I would recommend it. The lake swim seemed to be in a clean lake, the bike course was fun, the volunteers were awesome. Overall I had a great time. I was not impressed with my outcome, but there were a number of factors that contributed to this. I have some work cut out for me over the next 3 months leading up to MOO.