Not real happy with the swim, I did the IM again today to finish. My arms did feel heavy today, I wonder if it had to do with the swim race yesterday? Good news is the goggles did not fill up with water. However, took a breathful of water - threw me off my game. Went down hill from there. Started out up front this time and that seemed to work better for the first 100 yards or so. I will point out that I was not last though!

Oh yeah and it was still raining...

Focus on breathing, swim my own pace. I think I have strategy for improving my OWS over the next couple of weeks. Figure out a way to simulate the bumping of the OWS start.

I decided to try riding without socks today. I know, I shouldn't try new things on the day of a race that have not been practiced, but I figured everything was soaked anyway, so might as well give a whirl... Time could have been better if I was not gassed coming out of the water.

Work on swim to improve transition. Figure out the whole rubber banding the shoes on the bike thing... I bet there is a you tube video out there or something here on the site.

Took it easy a little to begin with to get breathing and heart rate under control and to forget about what I thought was a very bad swim and then began to build. Caught several people - played my own little game called "Who is my huckleberry?" I would spot someone ahead of me, catch them and then play another round. Seem to be successful. Performed better on hills than previously. Powered up the last overpass, passing someone on the upslope side. As I was in an adventurous mood today (remember the no socks thing...) I decided to try to try the pedal with foot on shoe manauver. Executed it with no problem. Reached down, un-velcroed, pulled foot out and rode on top of the shoes to the dismount line. I was lookin' all professional...

Despite the continuing rain, this was my fastest speed this year in a tri (yeah for small victories...)

Next step is to work on the rolling dismount. Not sure about the flying mount yet. Keep up the training on the bike, More time in aero. As I am still new at aero riding, I was not comfortable riding much in the aero position due to the wet pavement.

Seemed quicker than the time indicated. Not sure what I did wrong, but it was way longer than it had to be.

Practice this one...

Well, where to start... I will say the endorphins must have been running because I had a good time on the run. Sure, I took walk breaks, but less than before. Just as I started and was tired from the bike, coming back was the para-triathlete rolling the other way. All I could think was, "Yeah, I can make it a little further..." Something in my head clicked and I started being the encouraging triathlete. I was passing some people and telling them good job, great, you can do it, trying to lift spirits of those who were in the back of pack struggling. I have been there, I am still there and it means something when some encourages you! Anyway, I was a little gurgly. If you notice, I drank too much on the bike and on the run. Yep, you guessed, had to make a quick pit stop at the on-route port-a-john. Keep up the mostly running with a little walking. Ran out the last half mile or so. I had two guys come up on me in the last 200 hundred yards - we actually sprinted it out to the finish. I beat them by a nose...

I could have gone harder on the run, but I would not have had as much fun. I truly enjoyed the run this time which is quite a difference from the other tri's when I am just gasping and hanging on for dear life. I need to continue to run 3 times a week, but I can feel progress here!

I was sucking wind pretty hard when I got done. I sipped some water and went over to the ART tent. Apparently I have very knotty muscles and they think they can help. They worked over my right quad. I will see if it feels different from the left over the next day or so.


Swim, lack of aerobic base...


This has been the best race I have been to. Playtri puts on a good event.