Great Clermont Triathlon - 2014

This race was just a 'trial' to work out the bugs for Florida 70.3 in three weeks.  I'm glad I did it so I hopefully won't make the same mistakes.  In most of my past triathlons, I feel great at the beginning and by the end I feel like crap.  This race was the complete opposite.  I felt like crap from the start and by half way through the bike I was feeling pretty good and stayed that way through the end.

I think I messed up my nutrition (ate too much) in the morning.  I never ate or drank the whole race and half way through the bike, I felt like I was finally all digested and feeling better.  Next time I'll try not to have 5 cups of coffee and eat so much in the morning.

Swim: It was a beach start where we all ran into the water at the same time.  I knew something was not right when I first got in the water.  I couldn't get enough air and I felt a little claustrophobic.  It was the first wetsuit swim of the season so I probably should have practiced in it before the race.  I never ended up feeling ok like I generally do. I even walked out of the water (instead of ran).  The whole swim I kept telling myself I was going to quit Triathlons.  It was not a good feeling.

Bike: I felt just as bad at the beginning of the bike. I figured it had to do with having eaten too much so I didn't drink or eat anything and by the time I was about half way done biking, I finally started to feel better. Instead of getting passed a lot (like the first half), I was finally passing people.  I also did a couple 1 minute intervals the day before and I think this was a mistake.  For the future, I'll stick to only very easy rides the day before a race.

Run: By the time I got to the run I was feeling great.  I passed a lot of people and couldn't have felt better.  I still didn't eat or drink anything because I was afraid I would be put back in the pain.

Glad this race is over.  Let's hope the next one is better.

Results:
Swim: 19:08
T1: 2:01
Bike: 1:05
T2: :53
Run: 43:23
Overall: 2:11:19
5th in Age Group and 22nd overall

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