Could tell by the buoy setup that the course would be on the long side. Started out at a nice medium effort pace and had good sighting. A lot of the swimmers were off to the right and I stayed to the left taking a straight line to the 1st buoy which was out there. One guy was doing zig-zags and he hit my goggles when he crossed my path and I had to stop quick and readjust. After that I decided to increase my effort and actually passed a lot of swimmers after the 1st buoy which for me was amazing! Passed a number of racers running down the pier to the T1 mat.

Not much, my best race OWS yet. Had good sighting and drafted off others when I could.

52/234, decent T1, 8 sec slower than last year but that was with a great rack location vs this year.

Wish I had a video recording of it, not sure were I could improve, probably learn to keep the shoes on the bike but I always get mounted fast and get up to speed quick after mount line compared to others.

With the light NNW wind the first 5.5 miles was all into a headwind so I made sure I pushed it on this stretch trying to maintain 22 or so. 3.5mi stretch across the Pineda Causeway had a crossing tailwind so I went hard but made sure not to burn out on the bridge climbs and tucked the descents once I reached max speed. On the flat 5 mile return I used the crossing tailwind to push 24-25 mph all the way, surprised that the HR was low and RPE in a nice zone. The 1.9 miles across the EG Causeway had a crossing headwind and I could tell the winds increased. I stayed low and made sure not to kill my legs on the last bridge climb 1 mile out. At the top of the bridge I took my feet out of the shoes and hammered down until I reached max spped then tucked until I reached the last corner. I pulled my right leg over coasted in and slowed speed as I approached the dismount line and did another perfect flying dismount running thru T2 mat to the rack.

I guess I could have gone a bit harder based on the HR average (160, LT=170) but I wanted to make sure I had enough legs for a good run.

4/234, excellent T2. Slipped on the shoes and took off running putting on the visor and race belt as I was running out of T2.

Nothing.

A surprising run. First pace check at my 1/4 mile reference had me at 7:40 which I was thrilled with as it didn't feel like it with the legs slowing coming around. First bridge climb started at 0.7 mile mark and I worked it to maintain the pace on the climb. Had a runner up ahead that I was slowly catching so I used him as my focus. 1 mile mark was at the top and liked the fact I didn't lose any time climbing. Next mile was down the bridge to the turnaround and part way back. I used the descent and crossing tail wind to push the pace which was a very surprising time. 3rd mile had the bridge climb and descent back and a very small but cruel climb just before the 3rd mi marker. Pushed it as hard as I could from there to the finish.

Nothing, legs came to me when the should and was able to push a good pace the whole way.

Nothing. Found the family and my wife was beaming saying I smoked it and I was the 9th or 10 across the line. I couldn't wait for the results to start be posted so walked around a bit talking to a few racers and got something to eat and drink.


Swimming as always, I could easily gain 1-2 minutes there.


First podium with a 1st place AG and 6th overall!

Love this race site with the bridges on the bike and run. Post race events/awards were lame this year, definitely not the same vib as past years.