2025 Cultivation Nation Triathlon 🏊‍♂️🚵‍♂️🏃‍♂️

Competed in the scenic Cultivation Nation Triathlon 🏞️ and had a very well-rounded and balanced race across all 3 disciplines 🏊‍♂️🚴‍♂️🏃‍♂️ My Stats: 600M Swim: 12:03 (2:00 pace) 17M Bike: 19.1 mph ave. 5K Run: 8:06 pace 4/6 in AG 21/80 overall For the swim, it was redemption from last weekend's swim (Pelican tri) in that I was able to sustain rhythm and swam the entire 600M open water swim distance at a good pace. During the swim, I focused on sighting to hold a straight line to help minimize extra distance. When I got to the bike, I was ready for the technical, hilly course. ⛰️ The day before, I even did a little bit of wind direction reconnaissance, and actually needed help from AI to locate Flint Creek Park because supposedly the Windy app can sometimes have difficulty in depicting rural areas with great detail. Either way, with the help of AI, all I needed were the GPS coordinates, and once I was able to plug those into the Windy app, voilà, bike course found! Based on the wind data, it was going to be somewhat of a cross headwind going out that would become a cross tailwind coming back. Knowing this, I pushed a little harder on the first half to build a cushion and spare my legs for the run. And it paid off—I was ahead of pace at the bike turnaround point! The best part was the second half of the bike course as it never felt as easy as it did this year. I simply knew how to anticipate the climbs and built up some momentum at the bottom and then quickly downshifted and powered through the climbs with a higher cadence. One thing I noticed near the end of the bike segment was my right hamstring started to cramp a little bit. Not a full-fledged cramp, but it was flickering. The good news is I knew that I could rely on Hot Shots once again. Once I started the run, I immediately threw down one Hot Shot and it instantly worked. 🔥 I ran the first half of the 5K in 8:43 and then the second half of the 5K in 7:27! For the run, I simply wanted to stick to my target pace range and relax into my stride. I took in the scenic sights of the canopy of trees along this beautiful woodland trail run. I even noticed that there were several descents where I was able to take advantage of some free speed and even improve run economy a little bit, albeit briefly, due to the eccentric nature of downhill running. Once I exited the trail and made the final turn, I was able to pick up the pace and sprint the finish strong without actually feeling overly exhausted at the end. It was an exhilarating finish to a well-balanced race, putting all three disciplines together nicely. Moving Forward: From Problem to Project What I learned was that this race can be mainly determined by the bike. It's a technical bike course because it requires constant adjustments in pace, effort, and strategy due to the undulating and hilly terrain. And because of this technical nature, it can create a lot of slow down and lost time that is nearly impossible to make up. But if one has a strong bike performance, it can make a significant difference by providing a substantial cushion. My current goal is to use tools like Strava to get a detailed breakdown of course (e.g. hill gradients, elevation gain, segment climb times, etc.). Knowing this information would provide a great anticipatory advantage and turn slow reactions into fast actions 👷‍♂️🏗️🔬