This was the new rolling swim start format. I seeded myself at the back of the 34-36 group and was right on. It was interesting to be swimming with a bunch of people all swimming at pretty much the same pace. It made for much easier drafting.

I was worried about breathing/effort at altitude, since I train in MI and this race is at 5,400 feet but I never felt any different than I usually do. Maybe because I am such a slow, plodding swimmer, I wasn't putting out enought effort to really get out of breath.

I am overall very satisfied with this swim.

Swim harder. I think I can go faster but I notice in training that more effort often does not lead to dramatically faster times, just a dramatically more tired me.

Wore my road shoes again so it added a little time. Put on socks.

I had a little trouble getting the wetsuit off but otherwise fairly satisfied with this transition. I passsed a lot of people on the run from the water to the bike rack. There is a lot of time to be gained here.

This is the best distance bike ride that I have done. Just felt good the whole way. Climbed well. Descended well. Legs felt good so I was able to push more than I have pushed in the past.

This is my fastest HIM ride yet and I think there is room for additional improvement.

193 watts for this ride. I can push a little bit more. I am still learning how to bike to my potential.

Train, train, train

I have got this part of the race down ok.

For the first time in this race I felt oxygen starved. I did not feel awesome coming out of T2 but I pushed. I could hear myself breathing pretty hard. I was thinking, "usually when I hear people breathing like this, I know they are going to blow up soon." I slowed a little bit and felt better. Kept pushing myself and I was passing a lot of folks.

Somehow when I get under 10 miles I feel better. When you get in to single digits, the end is in sight. I finished up lap 1 and decided that I had the energy and will to finish strong. Doing the mental math I thought there was still a chance of getting in the 4:30s which has been a long term goal of mine. I just kept pushing and pushing. At the 10 mile mark, 5K left, I had just about exactly 22 minutes left to get through this and away I went.


Nothing. I am always left wondering if my body would have tolerated an extra :10/mile in pace. I felt pretty good when I was done, maybe too good. Sometimes I think that, triathlon is like delivering a child (not that I have done this), while you are doing it, you are suffering and think that you will never do it again. But then, as soon as it is done, somehow you forget the suffering and start thinking about doing it again.

Met with Buff immediately and hung out.


Altitude.


Great race. Great Volunteers.

I would do this again in a second (and might).