Rodney T Miller - Triathlon

This was an excellent swim for me I thought. My swim numbers have slipped a little more than I would have wanted to this summer but, it's my strongest discipline so I have focused time on the other two. Started off on the buoy line and just went pretty damn hard the first 2-300 yards. I blew everyone but one guy away. He was a good 10 yards to my left and I kept on wondering why the heck he was way over there. He was not sighting very well though. After about 400 yards I no longer had anyone even with me. They were all behind me now. I could see one of the elites ahead of me and I passed them as if they were just floating there it seemed. Rounded the first turn buoy and picked off another elite! I told myself though I needed to back off a little to save some energy for the bike so I settled into a good rhythm that felt right. I did a lot better sighting at this race than the last two I was at. Just decided to take a sighting stroke about every 8-10 strokes and it really worked out well. I know in races past I have done a lot more strokes before sighting and done well and not so well. Think I will stick with the every 8-10 from now on. I almost caught another elite towards the end but didn't let myself burn out on trying to get him/her. Came out of the water and they announced your' name and said I was the first age grouper out. Ran up the hill while trying to get my wet-suit unzipped. Had issues getting the Velcro off behind my neck but I was able to have it down to the waist by the time I was at my rack.

Nothing. Just not have as much issue getting my wet-suit un-velcro'd.

I think I could have been a few seconds faster. I did better this time with putting the helmet on while getting wetsuit down to the ankles but I still need to practice that one more. Overall I think it went pretty well from what I could remember.

Not much. Liked I stated above earlier not have the issue with the Velcro.

Got going pretty good. There is one heck of a hill about 100 yards after you hop on the bike. I was able to have both feet in before I turned onto it. Man it really about wallops you coming out of transition so fast. Once I got to the top and started going fast again I was able to get the HR down a bit and started cruising! I love the first couple miles of this course. It always seems fast for some reason. There were more cross winds than anything out there that day. They were not to strong so I rated it somewhat lower. I got to the turnaround spot and had not got passed by anyone yet! Woohoo! I had been gaining on one of the pro's for a while but he started to gain on me again after the turnaround. After about a mile or two past the turnaround I was passed by the second place age grouper at the time. He ended up winning the first place age group award. I wasn't passed by anyone else which made me ecstatic! I think my biking is finally coming along pretty well. This was the first time in a tri that I averaged over 23. I was over 24 with about 2-3 miles to go but those last 2 miles are very windy and sorta hilly. So it slowed me down to 23.3 for an average. :P

Not much. Maybe gas myself some more on those last couple miles but otherwise I think it went well.

Went fairly well I think. One of the few things that I dislike (very few things about this course that I don't like!) about this course is the steep downhill into transition. Wish there was a better place they could do it at but I guess it works! Made it to my rack good. I remember last year while running my bike into transition one of my shoes had come unclipped and went flying into the air I guess. That didn't happen this year thank god! Racked the bike and got the helmet off quickly. Got my socks on and slipped the shoes on pretty quickly. Grabbed the race belt and away I went. My legs felt pretty good. Last year after leaving transition I cramped up for a bit on my left calf. Not the case this year.

Not much. Maybe train myself to not run with socks in a shorter race I guess. I did that in my first triathlon and got some nasty blisters because of it. Talked to a friend and they run about a week before without socks and find where the hot spots are going to be from a short run and liquid skin them or whatever it's called the day before the race and they don't have any issues.

Run went pretty well. I felt good pretty much the entire time. I know towards the last turnaround point I was getting a little dogged down from the hills in that spot but once I turned around and headed back it seemed I was flying! I think I could have pushed myself a little harder but since I was doing so well this year there really wasn't anyone around me to track off of for the most part. I did pass one of the elite guys. He was an older guy who was not having a very good run it seemed but I told him good job and carried on my way. I could tell I was gaining on some of the other pro's though because of the two turnaround points we had to do I could tell that once I got close to the second turnaround area I had gained on some of them. The lead guys were flying though! I saw the 1st place age grouper at one point and knew there was no way I would catch him before we finished. He ended up running about a minute faster than I did when it was all said and done. I finished strong and had them call out my name and where I was from.

Not a whole lot I think. Kind of wish they would have had some Gatorade/energy drink there. I didn't see any other than just water but maybe they did.

Walked around and found my wife and brother in law who had come to watch my sister. We watched her come through T2 and start the run then me and him walked out down the course a bit and waited for her to get close to the finish line.


Not a whole lot I think.


This is an excellent course/race to do. I really thought there were more people there than what the numbers say. There are so many wonderful volunteers that are everywhere it seemed! Thank you! I did this race last year and thought it was my best performance of that year and it could be possible that this year was the same when this season is all said and done. I dropped around 12 minutes off my time from last year and took 2nd place out of all the age groupers and 9th out of the pro's! I was very happy with my performance.

They give out cash prizes to the top 3 male/female pro's. First place got 1000$. Not sure why more people don't come to this race because it really is a great time!