Triathlon at Retirement

I have started to use energy gels on longer competitions. I wish I had done that earlier; it really has helped my performance. Previously, I have only relied on energy drinks and apple juice, usually diluted with water. On advice from training buddies, I tested using gels during training a few times. I think it had some effect, but nothing really game changing. In hindsight, I can see I did not take enough. Recommended consumption is one gel every half hour during endurance events.  On my half ironman in April 2021, I only took one energy gel during the whole race, it was in T2. It probably helped me a bit, but the real game changer was Red Bull. On the run, I took a cup of Red Bull by mistake, I thought it was sports drink. The energizing effect was obvious, I felt it right away. Worried about too much caffeine intake, I swapped sports drink and Red Bull on every other drink station for the rest of the run. It was still hard, but the extra stimulant and sugar made it doable, and t...

Last Triathlon for the year for me was just for fun on a slightly shortened sprint in the town of New Braunfels, TX. This race had a lot of first timers. Swim was in the amazing spring water pool in Landa Park, crystal clear and perfect temperature. I was one of the few that choose to wear a wetsuit, because I am sure that even on shorter swims, it is faster. The swim was actually in two parts, first about 150 meters in the spring fed pool and then 150 meters in a regular pool. I swim about 10-15s faster per 100m in wetsuit, that is a 30-45s advantage by using it. Getting the wetsuits off takes about 15s, so I am still ahead and, on a sprint, every second counts! I should mention that there were two options to get into the water, jump in or a water slide... I judged the waters slide would be about 5 seconds slower, so I was boring and jumped in. Bike course is slightly undulating but has a steep uphill shortly after start. A few beginners were in the wrong gear and had to walk up. I ha...