I really enjoyed this swim. I think I ended up swimming a little too close to the shore line, missing the main current, but it still was fast for me. Of the 3 disciplines, I've seen the quickest improvement in my swim times. This probably has something to do with the fact that it was this leg that freaked me out the most 6 months ago, therefore acting as a great motivator for me to get better.

Today I found a good rhythm in my stroke, breathing, and sighting. I only bumped into people 2 or 3 times, but felt like I passed quite a few. I still came out of the water with a fast heart rate, but nothing like what I experienced in the 3 previous sprint tris.

A few times in the middle of the swim I considered trying to swim closer to the buoys (which were closer to the middle of the river), but decided against it. I figured I would waste too much time swimming there and back to make it worthwhile. If I do this race next year, I'll try and stick closer to the buoys from the start.

Overall, there's definitely room for improvement but I feel I'm steadily getting faster.

This transition definitely felt faster than the time states. Granted, the transition area was huge. Ended up 31/117 for my age group.

Nothing, I feel pretty good about my transitions.

The bike leg of this race is what had me the most stressed beforehand. I'd heard that it was very hilly and tough. Yes, it ended up being very hilly, but I didn't dislike it at all. There were several long ascents that were tough, but not too steep. The redeeming part of the course was the long, fast descents where I got going 40 mph and had a death grip on my aerobars. I'd also heard people complain about the course being on a highway, but I actually really liked how straight it was, and somewhat scenic with the mountains around. I have ZERO technical bike skills, so the fewer turns the better.

This being my 1st Olympic tri, and having neglected my bike training, I made a concerted effort to keep my exertion level in check. This applied especially to the hills where I tried to keep as high a cadence as possible and stay in the saddle to avoid going anaerobic. With a little more bike training I think I could've attacked the hills more aggressively.

The area in which I was most pleased was my gearing. Other than climbing the steeper hills, I was able to keep my cadence pretty consistent by proper gear selection...no chain pop offs either!


A consistent theme in every race report I've written thus far is my lack of bike training. I do feel I'm improving, but I stand to gain the most time overall by getting faster on the bike. I hereby vow to make more weekend bike training sessions...ATC'ers, hold me to it!

This was a good transition. 23/117 in my age group.

Nothing

My legs felt pretty good after the bike. My plan was to take the first couple of miles at 7:45/mile pace and after that to speed up or hold on depending on how I felt. The first 5 miles felt fine and were very consistent with splits of 7:44, 7:41, 7:42, 7:43, and 7:49. I was having fun seeing club members all over the place (there were between 25 and 30 of us) and encouraging walkers to get running again.

Around the beginning of mile 6, my right quad and hamstring were tightening up and causing a little knee pain. In an attempt to stretch my muscles, I kicked my knee up and immediately got a knotted cramp in my right hamstring. It hurt like crazy and I had to stop and try and work it out. Luckily it loosened up enough for me to jog and I started moving again. Unfortunately, between stopping and some slow jogging to work it out, my 6th mile split ended up being 8:54. I was the glad the final portion of the run was downhill as the gravity carried me along to the finish. Had I maintained my pace, I would've finished around a 7:45/mile pace (48 minutes or so), which I would've been pleased with.

I need to stay well-hydrated and maybe experiment with some electrolyte replacements. I had never cramped during exercise until about a month ago, and have now cramped twice during training swims and during this run today. This cramp luckily only cost me about a minute, but it would've been much more if it had happened earlier in the race.

I'm feeling better about my run, but I know that I've got lots of room for improvement as I start to run more hills, harder, and longer.

I felt so tired and tight at the finish that I had to force myself to walk around for a few minutes and drink some water. It took me a while before I felt I was going to be able to stretch and not cramp up again.


Overall training volume is getting higher each month. Bike training is the area going forward where I'm really going to try and get much more in...it is my worst discipline now.

Other than my cramp, I did as well as I could "dancing with the date I brung!"


Excellent race! This was the best race I've been to so far, next to Gulf Coast. There were tons of volunteers and multiple announcers on the mics encouraging racers and giving instructions. I really enjoyed the courses for each leg and the race finish/transition area along the river. I'll definitely be back next year.