Not bad for me. My swim is really inconsistent but this was an average Oly swim for me. Not great, not horrible. The large bright yellow buoys did make it easy to navigate. I was able to draft off of a couple of guys for quite a ways, both directly behind and off to the side. I prefer drafting off of someone's hip so I can follow them visually but then you can lose them when they pass someone.

The only time I had navigation problems is when I let my mind wander. Even then, I never drifted very far off course.

Keep my mental focus.

A longish run to transition. The wetsuit cam off quick enough. I did take my time with this one though, putting on socks and a cycling jacket. The air was cold so it was time well spent.

not much

This was my longest Olympic distance bike time ever, but the course was demanding so I think the time speaks more to the course than my fitness.


Passed Ron in the first few miles. He looked good. I was kind of hoping to pass him in the water though. ;) Saw the bear as he passed me. For a flatlander he sure can climb on the bike.

Not much. This race was a hard training day and I went strictly on RPE. Seemed to judge where to keep the effort ok. Stayed in the same place in my AG as I exited the water in, so I'm ok with it.

Not bad.

Nada

Moved up one spot in my AG, and a few overall. Good enough for a training race that I didn't taper for.

Caught up to Dylan in the second half, we ran together for a while. Again, no HRM or Garmin. Ran totally on feel. Picked up the pace with about a third of a mile to go. I probably could have opened it up a bit earlier, but I haven't done any intense running in so long that I didn't trust my ability to judge how long I could hold a hard effort.

Mila and Rick were at the chute cheering when I came in. It's such a boost having BTers there cheering you in. Awesome.

There were one or two spots where the run and bike courses converged that need to be worked on, but that's a pretty typical situation for the first time a race is put on. I'm sure it'll be worked out next year.

This wasn't a great run placement for me for an Oly but given my much better than usual bike placement it's ok.

Not eat the flavor/brand gel that I don't consume in training.

Not going to be an issue for a while anyway, Infinit was at the expo and Michael supplied me with enough product to allow me to train for and race the Musselman. So thanks to Infinit!

Not training consistently for a long period before race day, no taper, excess weight.

But: this was a hard training day, not an A or even B race. I got a good sense of where my fitness is and I'm happy with it. I'm confident going into the tri season. I'll be racing Keuka Lake next month as a B race so that will be the real test for me.

I was very consistent across all three sports which is great. It's reassuring to not need to focus on any one sport.


Loved this event, absolutely loved it. And the word is "Event" not "Race".
They do everything incredibly well. Expo entertainment, great activities for the kids, assigned transition spaced labeled with your name, incredibly well marked courses, nice race swag (headsweats visor, quality cotton t-shirt and a good long sleeve tech finisher's shirt), a large pro field most of whom are very approachable (Kelly Williamson is my new favorite female pro), computer workstations to look up your results on large hi def screens, the list goes on. The only way they can improve it in my mind would be to upgrade the post race food a bit. Replace the dry turkey or ham sandwich with burgers or hot dogs maybe. How's that for being picky? Other than that I just can't think of anything else they could do to improve this race. *Edited after the fact: the race results page is really confusing. It needs to be redone to make things like standings and overall times for each leg clearer. That's generally an athletes last contact with the race, so it's an important point.


It's that well planned and executed. Particularly considering that it was a first year event and only the second race so far for this group, it was a huge success.

There's a new superstar on the American triathlon scene and it's name is Rev3.