Laguna Phuket Triathlon

I finally competed in the Laguna Phuket Triathlon last week after years of dreaming of doing this luxury resort triathlon event. And it was amazing - amazing accommodations, amazing food, and amazing organization (the organizers provided more police escort and support for the PRACTICE bike ride on the Friday morning before race than most events do for the race itself..) Of course before the race I said that Phuket event was just an excuse to visit Phuket, but when the race starts it was totally serious. And just like my last triathlon (Murakami in October) I performed great on the bike, slogged through the run in mediocre but acceptable fashion, and have a puzzlingly disappointing swim result:

Swim (1.8 kilometers in ocean and lagoon) - 40:34 / 359th place of 672

Unlike Murakami I felt I executed the swim really well. In the pre-race, pre-dawn darkness I grew increasingly stressed-out at the thought of my first real triathlon swim without a wetsuit. But my sighting was

good, my form felt smooth, and I had plenty of space even though I took an inside position around the buoys. It was only after the race when I saw my relative results that I felt disappointed with my swim. Swimming has been my main training focus and yet I am placing worse that I did several years ago.

Bike (55 kilometers with a few steep hill sections) - 1:42:37 / 112th place
When I see the bike results though I am ecstatic. I actually out-splitted Keren(!) on the bike. The Tim Smith Carbon Bike and my limited indoor training rides seemed effective again. I passed other cyclists on the steep hills from 5k to 10k and on several long straight sections toward the end. I seem to be the only cyclist with only one water bottle (most participants are carrying three!) - and yet I don't even finish drinking my one bottle before exchanging for a full water bottle and the two aid stations. Teammate Jack Byrd passes me around the 50k mark and I am inspired to chase after him the last 5k.

Run (12k on pavement, dirt and golf course) - 53:37 / 45th place
I slog through the run as best I can. Since it is "only" 12k, I do not bother with run/walk strategy. The run is not as miserably hot as I feared it would be - running on a golf course seems to alleviate some of the heat effect we suffer doing triathlon runs on pavement.

Total - 3:21:24 / 92nd overall, 8th out of 100 in age group