The swim start was a bit rough. My hand slipped on my watch when they blew the horn so I had to stop and check that it was on . . . twice. This meant that a number of people got out ahead of me. To make matters worse, the next buoy was not a straight line from the one we were lined up by, so the rest of the swimmers had to move into my way. I got stuck behind several people who were moving toward one another and eventually had to move all the way to the left, inside the buoys, to break away. I swam near a few people from the wave for a bit, had one hanger-on as I went around the buoy, and broke away from her as we moved through the remnants of the last wave toward the finish. I think the swim was really strong and consistent and I recovered well from the poor start, but I don't want to have to recover like that. The plus was that I wasn't dizzy or disoriented when getting out of the water - I think my HR stayed lower because I didn't try to sprint at the start.

Go out faster. An alternative is start further to the side of the wave instead of by the buoys.

T1 was only ok. I had a hard time getting my socks on, which slowed me down. I did try not to rush too much, since I have had problems with having to redo things in the past. I definitely was more methodical and didn't forget anything, but it could have been methodical AND faster.

Not wear the tight orange socks.

I really tried to push the bike, especially since I knew it was flat. All the hills I normally do didn't prepare me for the unrelenting pace I had to hold. It was fast and I was really happy with it, but it took a lot of effort to get there.

More time on the trainer to prep for grinding a tough pace with no gliding.

Pretty good transition. Getting my watch off the bike held me up a little - I started to loosen it as soon as I dismounted, but it got caught on something so it was tricky to remove. Everything else went smoothly. I even remembered to put on my belt and watch while running.

Get watch all the way off before getting to the rack.

I pushed the bike really hard, so the run felt absolutely awful right out of the gate. My Garmin told me I was at a 9:20 pace, but it felt like I was running through molasses. I just kept plugging along and kept an eye on the watch to make sure I didn't lag much. The second mile was a bit slower because I hit up the water station twice and walked a few steps each time. After the water station, at about 1 1/2 miles, I didn't walk again. I kept plugging along down Red Lion Road and, once I got over the little hump on the course, I started to push the pace a tiny bit. I was able to push faster at the end, but no sprint finish - I just didn't have that kind of gas in the tank.

Nothing. This was a really good run for me.

Walked back along the end of the course to look out for Jeff, who was finishing his first du, then ran back over to the finish to see him come in. We walked around a bit before going over to the awards, then breakfast at the Vincentown Diner.


Just a few minor mistakes. This was a great race for me, all-around.


Nice local race with good support and lots of volunteers.