Olympic Triathlon Domination in NJ

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I competed in a very small triathlon in southern NJ this past Saturday. I signed up for it about a week prior after not being able to complete the swim at Nation’s Tri (due to a sewage spill in the river) on Sept 7th weekend. I wanted another chance to do a full Olympic distance tri and I found this small triathlon about an hour from Philly I spontaneously signed up!
Nation’s Tri had over 4000 people, this tri had less than 200. When I was in transition I could literally see everyone else that would be racing, which is crazy. You could set up wherever you wanted and Pat actually was able to come into transition with me (usually spectators aren’t allowed). He helped me set up and I got my bike double checked mostly for peace of mind. Side note: it was really cold… in the upper 50’s to start the morning and going up to mid 70’s by the end of the race.

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The race started at 8:00am and was only two waves (compared to over 30 at Nation’s Tri)- Men and women.  I wore a wetsuit since the water temp was only 67 degrees. It was chilly when you first got in but some girls were just wearing bathing suits and once I got moving I was fine. I felt great during the swim and knew I was at the head of the pack of women, and even passed some men. It was an out and back in a lake with small orange buoys.  Only bad part of the swim was on the way back we were directly facing the sun and it was super hard to see, note to self to invest in UV goggles in the future. I completely killed it on the swim clocking in at 25:40. I do question the accuracy of the distance because that is extremely fast for me… I think the fastest I’ve ever swam a mile was like 30 minutes. But anyways it was USAT certified so there is a small chance it was adrenaline and not having to battle a current.

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Out of the water, stripping the wetsuit as I go, into transition…. Yup I take my time in transition, I know it’s a race but I’m about to sit on a bike in soaking wet clothes for an hour and a half so I want to be as comfortable as possible. 9588521

Off on the bike…. Super easy bike course… it was on the open road but very cars were around… and there were dotted yellow lines so they would drive in other lane and for some parts there was a large side of the road to ride on. The streets weren’t in awesome condition in some parts but overall it was a smooth ride. It was so flat and fast of a course I must have started out going really fast. In the last 5 miles I got a terrible stomach ache (I’m guessing I swallowed too much water on the swim, because I didn’t eat anything out the normal). The stomach pain really slowed me down in the end but I guess because of a strong start and fast course I made up my time in the beginning. Clocked in at 1:28:24, similar to my time in DC.

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The run was two loop out and back on pine needs and sand in a very secluded wood area.  Definitely not my favorite run because all you saw were trees and it was a pretty thin path in some places and you had people running in both directions. Also running on sand sucks. But I still made decent time, 56:25. I felt a little sick still getting off the bike but was able to power through…  that’s a slower time for me, but I guess with the sand it’s expected.

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Overall results: 2:55:06!!! Under 3 hours and 1st in my (very small) age group! Yay! Awesome time and I would definitely do this tri again! Thanks for all the congrats and support friends! 8213371

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