You are either in it for the long game, or for the short. Rarely can you succeed in both. This was my lesson from the Ticonderoga Triathlon Festival.
I was in for the Double Ti, a sprint distance followed by an Olympic distance. Combined times made up the overall results in the Double. Seemed like an interesting challenge.
The sprint started just after the rain ended. Wind was high. Water was rough. There was little swimming, only fighting. It wasn’t a great performance. Open water humbles the pool-spoiled. Still, I was in the chase pack coming into T1. The race was far from over.


On the bike and I dropped the hammer. Close to 24 mph average over 12 miles, reeling in the lead group one by one until I was 3rd or 4th overall on the road. I knew I would get run down by some, but on such a short course I figured it was worth trying to bike myself a buffer and see if they ran out of road.
I held my 3rd best 5k time on the run and it mostly worked. 7th overall out of a field of 75 men and women. 1st in my age group (out of 1, but don’t tell).


Putting on my wetsuit for the 2nd time had me sweating like crazy and upped my HR like I was already running. I sat in the cold water of Lake George for a good 1/2 hour, trying to calm down and cool my core. It helped, but I was still unsure of myself. I figured the worst that could happen was going slow. I knew I could finish the race one way or another. Just a question of how ugly it would get. So I toed the line again.
The water had calmed somewhat by the time the Olympic started, and so had my mind. As a result, I was able to actually swim and find a groove. The bike was more controlled too, knowing I would need some reserves. But I still pushed about 290 watts for around 22 mph. Off the bike and I knew right away things were bad. They are rarely good off the bike, but that feeling usually goes away. This didn’t. A slow start to the 10k which would basically just decline over time. A war of attrition with myself. But I slogged it in.
23/77 overall in the Oly, 5/11 AG. Tantalizingly close to the podium for the Double, finishing 4th overall there. As always, it’s who slows down the least. 

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