Western States Police/Fireman Olympics - TriathlonOlympic

I have NO idea what happened....started out OK and feeling pretty good-then the wheels fell off, couldn't breath, started to panic and found myself on my back looking at the lifeguard who was wondering if he should save me. Tried 4-5 times to get back into the flow, but couldn't-back stroked for a full 600 yrds. Finally got going but by then I was DFL; Dead frickin' last.

I'm sure altitude had something to do with it, but mentally, I have to find a way to get over these little 'panic' attacks I get.

Inspite of a bad swim my T1 was really, really good. Even made a little joke with the volunteer "Which bike is mine?" I shouted, even though mine was the only bike left. She turned around and kinda panicked, then realized the joke..."You stinker".

Not be the last one out of the water. But T1 went well.

I liked my bike leg. I felt good, paced myself well and still managed to make up some time from swim.

I'm running a 9 speed cassette on 10 speed shifters because I'm too poor to buy a new 10-speed cassette. Click shifting would be nice.

Again, another pretty darn good transition. I practice these and visualize them alot and it helps.

nothing-good to go here.

Some little rollers right off the bat, but actually felt like they got my legs loosened up. Made my one and only pass on the hills. Kept looking for some other people to pass, but they were all long gone. Got into the park at about mile 3-5 and discovered I didn't know where to turn and nobody there to help. Decided to simply stay on pavement and come out of park near entrance-WRONG. Park guy said "You're going the wrong way". SHIT!!! My body told me at mile 6.5 that it was tired-by mile 7 I was on fumes.

There should've been at least one more water stop and they NEEDED a couple of course marshalls. Come to find out several people missed the turn.

Hugged girlfriend and jumped into lake


May have been a touch thirsty; hard bike ride took it's toll. Having run the right course would have helped.


I had a great time vacationing with Julie in the Tahoe area so, of course, the race was special. But there were some easy fixes to the problems i encountered. One more drink table and 2 course marshalls would have made all the difference. And I could have trained a bit better during the days i was in Tahoe, but that was my decision. I'm getting better at this stuff, but I'm still waiting for the one "perfect" race-were all the legs are solid, I'm healthy, and can finally see what I'm capable of.