Toyota U.S. Open Triathlon Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

OA= 79/572= 13.8%

I knew my swim would be slow since I've only swam a few times since my last seperated shoulder. My only goal was to survive it.

This is probably the slowest split I've ever done in a race due to a combination of being out-of-shape, big waves from the wind, and no drafting. Since it was a time trial start it was just random chance if you'd start with someone of your ability level. I didn't, so I didn't draft at all. Since I usually draft the entire race and I never swim in open water otherwise I think I also swam a pretty bad line. Because of the rain, I couldn't see the yellow buoys very well either so I just kinda followed other swimmers.

My shoulder didn't really hurt during the swim because I was going very easy. But as soon as I stopped swimming the pain was bad.

In my oly last year I swam 22:30 on an accurate course. So I was five minutes slower today.

Not crash my bike twice this summer and separate my shoulder both times so that I could have actually swam a little over the summer.

So after this transition disaster I pretty much gave up on the race. First I couldn't get my wetsuit top off because my shoulder hurt so bad. Then since it was raining and 55F I decided to wear my tight bike jersey and arm warmers. Since they were wet and I was wet they were almost impossible to get on.

Where I live, when it's 55 and raining you must dress warm or you'll get hypothermic so I was very confused as to what to wear on the bike. I was freezing cold when I was deciding before the race and I choose poorly. I should have just worn my normal tri top and just put my arm warmers in the pocket in case I needed them. I ended up not being cold on the bike at all.

Everything.

OA= 1/572 = 0.18%

After the 5 minute transition after my slow swim I decided to just enjoy the rest of the race and not care about time. I stopped my watch and my bike computer and just rode safely. I was worried about the course because so many people had told me how terrible the surface was.

I scheduled this race to post a fast bike split hoping to ride the normal southwest tailwind. But the wind was out of the northeast so the entire ride had a significant headwind. It was also pouring down rain the whole ride. So I did not push the ride hard. I was EXTREMELY cautious as my main and only goal was not crashing AGAIN. I took the corners glacially slow, and I saw two guys go down on corners. I also almost got run over by an amubulance going to another crash. It was nasty.

Also because of the time trial start I had no one to race. I did have the fastest bike split among the age group racers. But I would so love to race in the elite wave like the old days so I could actually have some people to race on the bike.

But the best part was that going easy on the bike allowed me to have a breakout run.

The last thing I want to say about this ride was that I absolutely LOVED the course. There were always two whole lanes closed to traffic and IMO the surface was just fine. It had quite a few little hills too. I am amazed that they are able to close 25 miles of roadway through Dallas. I can't wait to ride this again when it's dry and with a flat wind, or hopefully with that tailwind I was hoping for today.

ETA:
I did beat one pro and would have been 10/37 compared to the elites but they all had an advantage over me because they started earlier before the rain started, were able to draft the swim, and they had competitors around them on the bike that they could race. Plus, a lot of the elites were national qualifiers from other races in the series so I think the elite field was stronger than in most races.

Nothing except dress differently so I didn't lose 3.5 minutes to everyone clowning around in T1.

No problems in T2. I stopped my bike and got off. No more fancy dismoutns for me ever.

Nothing

OA= 68/572 = 11.8%

Yes the run split is correct and apparently I no longer suck at running. My olympic last year I did 52+ minutes on the run. My PR (as an old person) on the open 10k at Bolder Boulder was 45 minutes. I actually cleared/re-started my watch coming out of T2 and when I saw my first mile split at 6:39 and I wasn't out-of-breath at all, I was very happy. (Having actual air to breathe while running is very nice.) I just held that same effort and finished feeling great.

This run split make this race a big success for me even though the overall race time was disappointing.

Nothing.

None


No swim training due to injuries and slow bike due to rain/wind and safety.

Monday night I looked at the results again and saw that I only won my AG by 4 seconds! I met the 2nd place guy at the awards (very nice guy), and he beat my T1 time by 3 minutes. He also went 39:35 on the run. I forgot to add that he passed me on the run at mile 5.5 and I couldn't hang with him. Because he passed me, I thought I got 2nd but I also forgot about the time trial start. He had just enough head start for my overall time to be faster even though he passed me at the very end.


I love this race! Having the closed bike course with two lanes is fantastic. The run course is fast and I loved the Katy trail. Having all the pros there is cool and the finish line venue is fantastic. I think this is my favorite race that I've ever done.