Wildflower Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic

Great vibe at the start. Other athletes in the wave clapping and getting each other fired up before the start. The announcer let everyone know there were a lot of noobs in our wave.

I now know what baitfish being dumped into a baitwell feel like. The first triathlon swim pretty much lived up too expectations. Being kicked and hit, swam over and swimming over other competitors.

Overall the 5 minutes leading up to the start through the first 10 minutes of the swim were beyond surreal. Then I remembered I was swimming. Heading south in the chop added to the challenge but made coming back north on the return seem that much easier.

Try taking an inside track next time and definitely stay to the front. I had to wait for the field to break up around the first turn to find my rhythm and pass the slower swimmers. While being on the outside was useful once around the first turn, I covered a lot more distance than needed when I could have cut the corner and saved more time. I also need to find my pace faster and be less concerned with the other swimmers.

Charged out of the water riding the adrenalin high and enjoying the spectators, though possibly ran a little too fast. Fumbled with peeling off the top of my wetsuit while dashing into the transition area. The trick of leaving my goggles and cap in the sleeve of my wetsuit didn't pan out so well as I had to backtrack to grab them off the ground after they flew out.

Overall I was pleased with my first transition ever, but the cold water had left my hands less than nimble and there were some brief issues with socks and bike shoes. Also need to focus on taking some really deep breaths as I run out of the water and into transition to help re-center my focus and relax.

Tough course for sure, especially with Lynch Hill right out of transition. A lot of cyclists on course, which made drafting very difficult to avoid in many places. A lot of great support and cheering from Cal Poly and other spectators out on course. A lot of people were sticking too far to the center of the lane and made it very difficult to pass at points.

Had 2 Gu Roctanes on the bike via gel flask, 10oz water and 15oz Cyto.

I think I let other cyclists set my pace too often as I was afraid of getting penalized for drafting and not wanting to light too many matches to get around some. I was already 90 seconds off my April trial race pace at the 10k mark, which I assume stemmed from not attacking Lynch aggressively enough. I did manage to have a negative split, but it still wasn't enough to reach the pace I had a month earlier.

At the 30k mark I started to realize my quads were cramping when I would stand up to pedal... a small panic started to grow. Started to massage legs a little and stand on descents to try and get more blood moving into them.

T2 went well, save a small issue with my race belt and watch.

Quads cramping made jumping off the bike and running with it interesting. Kind of felt like I was on the cusp of taking a terrible tumble for the first 10 steps or so.

Put the race belt race number on top of the shoes with clips under the shoes to prevent it from blowing away. If I wear my Forerunner 310 again I should take it with me on the bike to make sure it has a GPS lock before running.

Need to take some more deep breaths as I approach transition to re-center and focus.

I knew this was going to be the toughest part of my day thanks to my preview in April. And it lived up to the expectations, though in a completely different way than I had anticipated.

About 2k into it my quads were so cramped I had to stop, stretch and walk for a good 60 seconds. At that point my goal of finishing sub 2:50 had turned to avoiding a DNF and walking the rest of the way. I have only had cramps like this in my legs once before; the last time I just continued to ride through the pain and managed to come out ok on the other side. I decided to follow the same process this time too.

Fortunately they only hurt when I was going downhill, so I covered the uphill relatively pain free. Until I hit Lynch. By then I just decided to clinch my teeth and realize that the faster I went, the faster the pain would abate.

Hit the bottom of the hill and found a really big guy to draft through the chute behind (in part to make it easier, in part to hide my previously mentioned race belt issue). The announcer called my name (awesome feature, TriCal) and I checked the clock as I crossed the line, expecting 3:00+ and was amazed to see I had exceeded my goal.

Avoiding leg cramps would be a good start... though somehow I still managed to post a time that was :32 seconds faster than my April pace. Perhaps the cramps slowed me down enough off the bike to ease into the run and gave me more speed when climbing out of Harris Creek.

Cold towel, icing of the quads in the medical tent, Gatorade, water, recovery shake (oj, carbo-pro, salt, metabolic drive, water)... then eventually a giant burrito and a couple of adult beverages.


Quad cramps... quad cramps and more quad cramps. No idea was triggered them - I believe I was well hydrated and well nourished. I would like to get some idea of what triggered them so I can do whatever is in my power to avoid them again.

Need to improve my running substantially, especially hills.

Need to be less concerned with others' pace on the bike and ride my own race.


I chose an amazing event to be introduced to the world of triathlons! TriCal did a fantastic job on all levels, the spectators and support crews were great. Had a great time with the other competitors, even engaging in fun banter on course with several. Seeing the challenged athletes on course made me realize that words like "can't" should be stricken from the English language.