Big George Triathlon - Triathlon

Wasn't very happy with the swim. On the way out I felt someone drafting me almost the entire time which is to be expected. My breathing seemed decent and didn't swallow a lot of water but it just wasn't fast for some reason.

On the route back I pulled off to the side and let the person pass me so I could draft him the entire way back.

Not sure what I would do...just seemed slow!

Fastest T1 was 1:04 and I was second with 1:05. I'll take that for having to put my shoes on!

I decided to not have my shoes clipped in as the run out of transition was over dirt. I didn't want dirt in my shoes that early. My wetsuit came off without a problem and was so fast I didn't have a chance to put my helmet on at the same time. One pull on each leg and it came off.

I thought the pace might have been a little hard by how I was feeling around mile 40.

John and Derek caught me at about mile 52 or so and we rode into transition together which was great! All the training we did this past year and coming into T2 together for the last race of the year was the best part of the day.

Coming into T2 with Derek and John was awesome. Thought I did a pretty good job putting socks on as I don't normally wear socks. I had them rolled up and that seems to work perfectly.

Grabbed bib and visor and out I went.

Tough course! Left T2 with Derek as John had already gotten out. Derek and I wanted to catch John and see how much the 3 of us could do together. John dropped back right away and I wanted the sub 5 hour mark so I started to go after it.

Was taking gatorade at every station and I don't think that was enough but I wasn't about to pound a gu in a race.

Mile 6.5 I learned I was 1st in the AG! I knew I was up there but didn't know I was 1st. Around mile 10 Derek started to pull away and I couldn't hold pace with him. Around 10.5 I saw a guy blow past me with a 31 on his calf and my heart sank. 2.5 miles to go and I lost 1st in the AG. But there was nothing I could do about it...he was easily going a minute/mile faster than me.

John ended up catching me in the last half mile and our pace sped up drastically to the end. Coming down the last .2 miles it was a hard pace...easy sub 6. The last couple hundred yards were sub 5...no question. We were moving as fast as we could challenging each other.

Lay down and figure out where I was....lol