Desert Triathlon - Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

Swam exactly once in lanes about a week before the race (in the previous six months). Wasn't that worried. Started out okay, but started to tire noticeably alarmingly early on. Started to seriously worry, but was able to settle down and fall into a smooth-ish (emphasis on ish; given my lack of training, my form blew) flow. Felt like there was more contact than most for whatever reason. Maybe because of my notoriously bad sighting, which I'm sure put a little zig into my zag. All in all, not bad for no training, but I went a full 6 minutes slower than 2009, and that's time I could fairly easily pick back up with some training.

Uh, actually swim in preparation for the swim leg.

Struggled with wetsuit for some reason. Maybe because I'm 15 heavier than I usually am. Also fumbled with a couple things, including my new shoes. The latter were great, but it took me slightly longer to clip in than my old shoes/pedals.

Dunno, just try to have less crap. I love the crap, but it takes a lot of time (305, glasses, etc.)

I've been mountain biking a fair bit with my bro, and I was hopeful to improve upon my 2009 showing. My log there will show you someone very disappointed with his 2:20 finish. Picked up 5 mins and about 1 mph here, so that was good. Felt generally stronger, and suffered less than my log reminds me of last year. Probably a gear better than last year. That said, still getting dominated by most people in my AG, and I'm still 5 mins from being a MOP'er.

Not much. Cycling is a work in progress, and this is at least trending in the right direction. Query if I went out too hard trying to self-fulfill the prophecy and whether that hurt me in the run.

Two hiccups. First, the guys next to me left no room for my bike, so had to spend some time moving stuff. Second, my left leg cramped badly as I put in my shoes, so I had to stretch that and gingerly put on my right shoe before leaving. Otherwise, it was good.

Both glitches were out of my control; nothing much.

Wheels fell off the wagon on this. First off, I've run a fair amount in training, but am about a month or two behind my normal pace, which starts me in November. This year, I didn't do much til January. Worse, though I've been logging okay miles decently, my intensity has been way down, with lots more walking. Translation on race day: a shitty run. Was tired from the get go, and started spurts of walking at second water station. The cramp didn't help, and neither did the heat (which wasn't bad, but wasn't my normal night jogs either). Overall, just awful stuff, coming in 8 minutes slower than 2009. Yikes. This is fixable, but it wasn't a good day, and even my 2009 pace was at least 5 mins slower than MOB'ers. Work. Cut. Out.

Train better. Not be such a wimp after I started out weak.

Just my standard wander around and snack routine.


Mostly, the training has been terrible with no swimming. I've also got to re-focus on structured runs, and not just what sounds easy. I'll go back to McMillan I think.


Well organized, nice race.