I had a good swim. I wanted to stay calm and in control and I was able to do that. I started on the outside as much as I could, and things worked fine. I tried to catch some feet after the start, but the people I started following got tired and I passed them. The better swimmers were probably gone by then.

I did a fair job of navigating. I found myself drifting a touch on occasions, but I never got too far off line.

It was just a very pleasant swim. I made good time, didn't have any trouble, and was pleased with my time in the water. By my watch, my swim time in the water was 25:30. The remainder was going up the stairs and the run to transition.

Nothing

After climbing the stairs coming out of the water, I was able to get my neoprene cap, goggles, and yellow cap off well. I then remembered that I should get my wetsuit top off as well. I was able to do that before I got to my transition spot.

Once there, I sat down and pulled off my suit the rest of the way. Toweled off my feet and put on shoes and socks. Stood up, put on my helmet and sunglasses. Grabbed the bike and headed for the exit.

Once out of transition and onto the bike, I had a touch of trouble getting my feet snapped in. But whatever. Only a few seconds lost.

Things went ok overall. Reasonably smooth. No significant time lost on anything. My overall rank was 83rd for T1.

Not much

I felt like I had a decent but not great bike. I wanted to make sure I would drink my water and gatorade on the ride. I finished 2/3 of the gatorade and all the water.

The first stretch of road was down wind, so I was able to make decent time. We turned up to the main highway and headed into the wind. The road quality was very poor. I passed a couple of people with flat tires. But I made it through ok. I mostly stayed in aero on this stretch and made reasonable time with the headwind. I was surprised to see my HR in the low 130s for much of this stretch.

As we headed down into Branchport, I was definetly on the drops. I wsa up over 30 mph and with the road conditions, I didnt want to be in aero.

I didnt have an especially good turn around, but whatever. Then we went up the hill. I did fine there, not pushing too hard. Up to the turn off and a short downhill. Then the real hill started.

I normally climb pretty well, so I put the bike in the 30 tooth front ring and just went up and up. I could have pushed a touch harder, but I didnt see the point of blowing out the legs. Up and up we went.

We got on top of the ridge and found ourselves heading into the wind until the turn around. Gorgeous views of the two fingers of Keuka lake. The lake is Y shaped and we were overlooking the top of the v. Very pretty up there.

After the turnaround, it was downwind and downhill. I got into aero for awhile and started making good time. I did go back to drops on steeper sections for safety reasons.

At about the 20 mile mark, my back was getting pretty sore. Hamstrings too. Just not enough time on the bike to have all those areas conditioned well.

After all the downhills, we merged with the sprint course on the main highway. Only a mile or so to go until transition. I was glad to be off the bike.

When I got off the bike, I looked at my watch and saw that I was at the 1:50 mark. I was well positioned to break 3 hours overall. Or so I thought.

Possibly slow down a touch. Perhaps finish the gatorade. But not a whole lot realistically.

I was dissappointed to see my biketime to be below the average pace. But with more time in the saddle, this situation could be fixed.

T2 went fairly well. Got the bike racked fine, helmet off, shoes swapped. Grabbed my visor and a drink of water.

Probably wasted a few seconds putting on my race belt. I should have put it on while moving to the exit.

Finished with the 68th best T2 time.

See above.

My plan for the run was to attempt to go at an "E" pace jog. I had done minimal running since February because of a foot injury. But the week prior, I averaged about an 8:20 pace for 3.5 miles in the Pittsford Tri. I didnt expect anything close to that pace for this run, but I thought I would be able to at least do this run in an hour.

The heat and humidity said otherwise. I died on the run. The heat ate me up. I wanted to run, but my HR was spiking even at a slow jog. I found myself getting light headed and my hands clammy. Heat stroke was a significant risk. I knew that I wasnt going to place, so I didnt see the point of pushing myself to the point of ending up on the hospital.

I tried to run much of the first mile or so. But I could not keep my HR and light-headedness under control. So I tried a walk/run. At every aid station, I got 2 cups of water. I poured 1 ovver my head and drank the other. I was trying very very hard to keep my body temp down, but it was just not happening.

I knew that I was not properly trained for this run leg. I have run a total of maybe 20 miles since February due to a foot injury. When I do much of my run training, it tends to be at a HR level of around 125 BPM.

Today, at similar paces, my HR was about 150. When I walked, my HR was still 130 to 135. The heat was affecting me that much.

I passed the 4.2 mile mark at about the 2:40 mark. If I could run 10 minute miles for the last 2 miles, I'd meet my 3 hour goal. But it was not to be on this day. I did run most of the last mile, however. And I passed the finish line with a smile on my face.


It was fun seeing my BT and other friends on the run. I saw Bob about a mile in as he was finishing up his race. I saw Paul from swimming soon thereafter. Jackie passed me about the 2.5 mile mark. I saw Marmadaddy after I had started the turn around. He caught me very soon thereafter.

After the run, I found Jackie, Marmadaddy, and Boyddr. It felt SOOOOO Good to sit down.

When you walk at least half the run, there is a lot that could have been done differently. There were things that I could not reasonably control though. I could do nothing about the 90 degree temperatures and high humidity. I could raelistically do little about my lack of run training leading up to the race.

The only thing that I might have controlled was my swim/bike pacing and my hydration. Did I go to hard in previous legs? Obviously I did in retrospect. But I didnt feel like I was going that hard on either one.

Could I have drank more? Yes. Might it have helped? Don't know. Overheating seemed to be the problem versus dehydration.

Did I take in enough calories overall? I don't know. I had the gatorate pre-race and most of another on the bike. Might have been a factor. Not sure.

I should probably add that more bike time, particularly on longer rides would have been helpful. I had only 3 rides of this length or more so far this year. Clearly not enough. This lack of bike fitness impacted my run.

I walked a touch until I found familiar faces. It felt really really good to sit down. I sat with Jackjack, Boddr, and Marmadaddy for 10-15 minutes. When it was time to get up, I was still in a touch of trouble physically. Boyddr and Marmadaddy helped pull me up. I had to stand bent over for about a minute to keep from passing out. After standing all the way up, I had to breath heavily for a couple of minutes. I needed a hand from Boyddr to keep my balance.

Marmadaddy was kind and gave me a coke he was drinking. The sugar and caffeine did seem to help. I was in much better condition about 10 minutes later.


The heat was a huge factor. I probably could have finished the run in under an hour in cooler temperatures. But it just ate me up today.

My lack of run training is also a material factor. My longest run in the last 3 months was last weekend at the Pittsford tri. With only perhaps 20 miles total running since February, I was badly under trained for this leg.

I was a touch undertrained on the bike too. It didnt affect me on the bike as much as it did on the following run.

I don't know if hydration or calories was a contributing factor. I don't have enough experience at this distance to know if that was an issue.

The combination of these factors led to so much walking. Next time I'll go under 3 hours.

But despite all of that, I reached my goal. I've completed an Olympic Distance triathlon.


The organizers did a pretty good job. The only small problem was the lack of bathrooms.