Well that's a wrap...

And with that, I finished the Tarpon Triathlon.

Post race selfie, and yes I felt shattered.

Let me preface all this with, I am 100% happy with my results.   I finished the race and didn't finish last in my category, or the race overall.   The weather was pretty close to perfect for the event too.   To talk about the individual portions, I had no issues on the swim and stayed close to or faster than my training pace.  My swim goggles leaked a little bit, but that's been an ongoing issue, and I will probably replace them for future races.  However, I felt good in the water and I think I could have gone 1/2 mile on the swim or more if I had to.  I need to swim in the ocean more because I just need practice at that.   Oh, and the seagrass/seaweed isn't fun to run through, but it could have been worse.

Yes it's official

I thought the bike went really well with the exception of having troubles clipping in.  I passed far more people than passed me and one person passed me because a race organizer on a trike was in my way and I had to slow down.   I think tri bars would help, but not as much as a better bike.   Don't get me wrong, I like my Bianchi, it's a comfortable ride, but I'll need somethign better in 2026 if I keep at this.  I do need to drink water while on the bike.   I feel very uncomfortable grabbing and replacing my bottle so that needs help.   Otherwise, with the exception of some of the elite/distance athletes I was on pace.

Now for the run.   Again, I finished the race and hit my goals, but I expected to do better running.   No, I'm not used to running after all that exercise, and yes, running is my weak link, but I was disappointed at how much walking I had to do.   My knee and hip were sore during the run and that hampered me, but I think more of that was allowing myself to get dehydrated.   Obviously, I can't drink in the swim, and I barely drank on the bike, so at this point I was an hour in and had minimal water.   I effectively chugged my fitly flask, and had to sip cups of water at the aid stations.   The only other change was that I was in slim socks, but my joints are fine now, so I think it's water intake and some fitness.   Both of which I can address in future training.

I was surprisingly pleased eating at Charley's for dinner, thanks for pushing that Jerry, because it wouldn't have been my choice, but that bison ribeye was on point :)

So where do I go from here?   Well, I think I'll repeat both Tri's next year with the goal of meeting or exceeding my performance so far.  Dunedin is a sprint, but I'd like to try an olympic distance.   I don't think I want to be ready for that in a year, so lets think about 2026 for that one :)   Beyond that, a few 5k's to go and my longish bike ride in November.   But before that, I'm going to take a light week and enjoy some R&R.   I'll still close rings and do that, but I'm going to let my body heal a little bit.   I was very sore going into the last week before the race and I think I overtrained.  I still have plenty of room to improve. but I tried to cram it into a small window and failed badly.   Now that I've finished the race I can plan for the training plan I wanted to run before this race instead of feeling overwhelmed and behind when I started my ramp up.

We live and learn right?   Glad I did it, and excited for new challenges!  Talk soon....