I took everyone’s advice in the e-mails prior to the race and
started at the right side of the group on the swim. I decided to start at
the front of the pack in hopes of clean water, which seemed to work. I
didn’t have issues with running into arms and legs in the first 100 yards
of the swim. After rounding the first bend I tried to head straight
towards the last buoy which seemed like the most direct route. I could
see other swimmers around me, but we kept our distance. I had a few
people nipping at my toes throughout the race, but I figured they were
drafting which was fine. The other advice I took from the e-mails, was to
try to draft if there was an opportunity. I guy who had been swimming
slightly behind me, started to pass me with a couple hundred yards left in
the swim. I decided to stay right next to him, with him slightly ahead
and swam 6 inches from him for the remainder of the race. We both seemed
pretty happy with swimming right next to each other. It’s amazing that
you can swim that close to someone and avoid touching them.

Put Body glide on back of neck to help with rub burn from the wetsuit

I was a bit frantic when I got out of the water. I was extremely
tired and just started running. Luckily I got my wetsuit unzipped on the
2nd try. I have had a lot of trouble with this in the past and the folks
from the MMTC tent helped me work out my zipper issues before the race
(thanks!). My wetsuit got a little stuck around my left ankle and luckily
I quickly realized it was due to my chip. I was about to yank it off.

Consider no socks.

I didn’t feel as good as I usually feel on the bike during a
Sprint race (I guess the extra ½ mile on the swim may have had something
to do with it). It took me a couple miles to get into a rhythm. I
originally had planned to push the hills at the beginning of the race
harder, but with my energy level, I took others advice and stayed in the
easier gears and spinned fast. I had a few people in my age group pass me
during the bike and I admired their speed and nice bikes (and tires,
particularly the disk wheels).


Maybe use a different drink and different gel. Use protein in drink.

Use bobby pins for race belt.

Again, I didn’t feel great at the start of the run, but I didn’t
expect to either. I tried to get into a rhythm that happened to be a bit
slower than my training pace. I ended up running next to a 44 year old
woman from the wave ahead of me for the first 2 miles. She was very fit
and I was surprised that she wasn’t further ahead since her wave was 25
minutes ahead. After the first mile we started to talk and it turns out
she had to start with the 50+ men’s wave and she got dunked twice during
the swim and then got a flat tire on the bike. It reminded me how
thankful I was for no bike problems. After the 2 mile mark we separated
up one of the hills. My brother and family were stationed at the 3 and 4
mile mark, so it gave me some incentive to speed up (at least for the few
seconds while I was running by them). I think I passed one person in my
age group on the run and was passed by a few people. I had some cramping
in my stomach, so I tried to maintain a pretty steady pace. I picked it
up for the last ¾ mile of the race and then got as close to a sprint as I
could for the last 100 yards. I got a major hamstring cramp about 15 feet
before the 1st finish line, but was able to hobble across as the pain
subsided quickly, and started to stop. Then I heard people yelling to
keep going and I saw the real finish line. I picked it up quickly and had
a couple more close calls with hamstring cramps, but I remember Vig’s
comment that you can’t crawl across the finish line.


Try to eat a little more on the bike so I have more energy on the run

I felt a little full and bloated when the race started.


Columbia was my first Olympic distance triathlon. I have done 3 sprints,
the first being last October. This was the goal race I set late last year
and have been training ever since. Overall, I was very happy with the
race and was able to beat my goal time of 2:30.