AMICA Try Andy's Tri - Triathlon

It felt like I was slower than last year's pace but I actually beat my time by 21 seconds. I lined up in the middle and decided to fight my way through the pack. I had to fall back a couple of times when people slowed and I just couldn't get around them. Since swim is my best event (don't ask me why - I have no clue) I should do well in future races with longer swims.

Next time I think I'll go back to the left side along the bouys and kayaks. Sighting is easier there and I think I wasted a few yards this year with poor sighting.

I gained 25 seconds here from the prior year but I was counting on more. Still, a good improvement and I had my path out of the water and into T1 memorized well. I made a last minute decision to be safe and put the shoes on before I got on the bike. Since I only have mountain biking shoes this was probably a better way to go, but I could gain 10 seconds with some tri shoes.

I think its just a matter of clearing the cobwebs out of your head once you get out of the water. I can't believe how slow people were moving on the run through the grass and with their bikes out of transition! I may be a little more aggressive next time, but I'll avoid knocking anyone over since that would be rude :-)

My bike time is an educated guess since my T2 and bike times were combined for the official scoring. I know I spent some extra time in T2 because I missed my stall by a row at first. I rode hard but felt the effects of not backing off on training this week since I have a half-ironman in November. If I was well rested I think I would have a little more for this segment.

I did fine - no real mistakes.

There is a right turn just before transition that makes it hard to get the shoes ready and I misjudged the distance, leaving me with shoes still on my feet. Traffic is congested coming in and people are understandably cautious and slowwww. I tried to make up for it by running hard to my stall but overshot it. The racks looked much different and I missed my mark. Once my bike hit the rack I did fine.

I have to study marks better for T2. It was better than last year's effort but I lost some precious seconds that could help me reach my goal.

As usual I had some cramps starting out, but made it through them by the end of mile one and picked up the pace. I know a lot of people DQ'd because they didn't do the second lap - but I'm sure they felt like their times were awesome - at least until they go the DQ. I'm suspecting there may have been a few DQ's in the published ranking that were ahead of me, but hey - my time was better than last year.

The winner talked about "going deep into the pain cave". I think that's where I have to go to get my run splits better. Wish me luck. I don't like the pain cave!

flopped on the ground.... enough said


Just me. I really respect those that put in the work to finish on the podium.


This is my favorite race. Andy Stewart does an awesome job and the volunteers are so fantastic! If you haven't done Andy's go ahead and sign up for next year! I finished with better splits than last year in every segment, so I have to be pretty happy with my performance as well. My goal is to finish this race in under an hour. Watch me do it next year!