Swim
Comments: Swim felt great. There was wind and current which took us off course a little. I Ended up right against the first buoy and had to fight my way around it. There was a little chop which made breathing a little harder on the last leg. What would you do differently?: Compensate for the current a little. Otherwise, it was good. Transition 1
Comments: This took longer than I would have liked. It was cold, and my fingers weren't working great. I took my watch off to get the wetsuit sleeve off and had to put it back on. Took a while to get my legs out. What would you do differently?: I hadn't done an open water swim since September so I was out of practice getting out of the wetsuit. Bike
Comments: Bike was pretty disastrous. I felt pretty good. Struggled on the hills a little but just tried to gear down to the granny gear and spin up them. Passed a lot of people going downhill, but the lane was not always wide enough to pass. I missed the turn around at mile 10.5. The sign simply had an arrow pointing to the left, so I turned left. Should have done a 180. The volunteer just sat there and didn't say a word. I was going down a closed road with construction and realized my mistake. I turned around and tried to clip in and fell over. I got up, and my derailleur was caught in my spoke. I got that untangled and tried to get going again. Again, I tipped over due to lack of momentum. On the third try I got both feet clipped in and was able to get up the hill and back on course. Looks like the whole debacle cost me 2 minutes and the age group win. What would you do differently?: I guess study the course more and make note of at what mileage significant turns are. I was happy with how I kept my cool and got back on track. This was my first significant ride / race with new (top me) Aeolus 9 wheels. They worked great, but I did feel the wind gusts from the side a little and had to compensate. Transition 2
Comments: Dismount was a little hairy but went ok. Got my feet out of shoes coming back into the park. One shoe flipped over as I was running with the bike and unclipped so I had to grab it. Otherwise, went well. I think I was late hitting my watch lap, so some of the T2 time is probably in the bike leg. What would you do differently?: Practice dismounting more. Run
Comments: Run went pretty well. I didn't know what pace I could sustain since I've been doing so much Zone 2 running. Did it by feel which worked out. What would you do differently?: Nothing Post race
Warm down: Just walked around. Got something to eat. Talked with friends. What limited your ability to perform faster: Getting off course and falling on bike. Event comments: Seemed to be a shortage of volunteers this year which resulted in long lines and waits. Could have used more volunteers on the bike course to direct traffic. Started a few minutes late. Weather was cold at the start but felt fine once we got going. The wrong timing chip was in my packet. I had to get a replacement. There must have been an issue with the replacement timing chip, so my results aren't showing on the website. Contacted the race director who said she'd look into it. Had to calculate times and places from my Garmin files. Last updated: 2018-05-21 12:00 AM
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United States
55F / 13C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 63/167
Age Group = M45-49
Age Group Rank = 5/9
Woke up at 5:00. Ate overnight oats with banana and peanut butter. Gathered remaining things and drove up to Moraine. A little trouble with the GPS which kept trying to take me to the South Shore rather than the North. Arrived in plenty of time to park, put my bike and bag in transition, stand in line for race packet, and get body marked.
Swam a little bit to get acclimated and warmed up.