The water temp was announced as 74.3F, but it didn't matter because I don't have a wetsuit. I was one of the few knuckleheads out there without one, but the water didn't feel cold. I started out wide (deep) from the shore to try to stay away from everyone, and I think that strategy worked out well. After the first couple of minutes I was still hanging pretty well in the pack, but slowly I started getting passed by a few people. I bumped into a few guys in that first segment, but nothing bad - just a few easy rubs or arms to feet. After rounding the first buoy the pack thinned out a lot - probably a result of me getting left in the pack's wake. I made it to the second buoy without incident, but afterwards I found it very difficult to sight the yellow buoys due to the sun being behind them. It would take several sight attemps to be able to find it (without stopping to sight), and I just swam in a general direction for a while before I saw I wasn't too far off course. Right about the time I got to the first yellow I was caught by the first green cap from the wave starting 3 minutes behind me. That was discouraging to realize I was that slow, but I just kept on stroking and sighting. It was right about that time that I also noticed the water felt really good. It was just the right temp, and I wasn't cold nor too hot. I did wonder what it would be like in a wetsuit, though.

I was happy to see what I thought was the last orange buoy, but after rounding that one I realized there was one more before I headed back to shore. I tried to harden up and pick up my effort at this point, and I was swimming with a small group of fellow blue cap guys and a couple green cappers. After the final turn the trip back to shore seemed to take a while. I',m not sure if we were working against the current or if I was just getting fatigued, but it seemed like a slow trip. I probably stood up a little too early because it was hard to run in the soft sand, and the slight veritgo from sanding up after swimming 34 minutes didn't help. I managed to get up to jogging speed and passed a couple of people running up the hill towards T1. I was most nervous about the swim coming into the event, so during this jog I was happy the swim was over so I could move on to the bike.


Learn to swim faster! Besides that, I'd like to try a wetsuit since I'm sure there are some speed gains from them.

T1 took me a little longer since I still had a little vertigo from the long swim. I did't want to fall over, so I took my time getting into my shoes and took a long drink of water. I grabbed the bike and started running out, but I looked down just in time to see my two gels I had taped to the bike about to fall off. Yikes! I grabbed them and stuffed them in a little pocked behind my water bottle.

Not much, but definitely pay attention to taping my gels. Looking at the results, there were only 9 guys faster than 1 minute (undoubtedly because they were dealing with wetsuits), so I don't feel too bad. I'm sure I could have been a little faster, but it wasn't terrible.

Rocked the bike. After my bike heavy training over the last month I was really looking forward to this course. I also brought in a new disc cover for my rear wheel and my new aero helmet (Bell Javelin) for this race, so I was expecting good results. I also added pressure to myself because I knew my swim speed was MOP at best, and my run was probably going to suck because I hadn't run in a month prior to this race.

I got a good mount out of T1 and was able to fall comfortably into aero right away. I forgot to start my computer out of T1, but I turned it on as I passed the park gateway. I opened a gel right away and got down all I could before setting down and getting into a good tuck for the ride. The first section up to Jacksontown was somewhat uphill, but on the other side it seemed to fall away nicely towards I-85 while made for some nice speed. I probably passed 10-15 riders in this section and got to I-85 averaging 23.3mph. As I crossed I-85 I began thinking there had to be some uphill sometime, and I found the first of them soon after that. I was able to downshift nicely and kept my cadence high to spin up the hills before making the first turn onto Poplar Mtn.

Unfortunately the road surface took a downhill turn for a while, but I stayed comfortable on the bike and kept picking off riders who looked like a constant string of pacelines in front of me. A couple of times I was forced into a (maybe illegal?) three wide pass, but I just kept the hammer down and my eyes up the road. A lot of the Martin/Burchette road seemed to be net uphill with a few steep downhills as the road crossed streams.

The trip to the the north end of Jacksontown didn't seem to take too long, and when I made the turn to head back south my average was still hanging around 22mph. After the turn I was pleased to get back on smooth asphalt, but unfortunately the wind really picked up - or at least I really noticed it for the first time. 3/4 of the trip on Jacksontown was spent fighting a fairly strong, gusting headwind which would vary my speed by 3-4mph. It seemed to subside as I got back to Bullocksville, and before long I was to the last turn.

As I made the turn back towards T2 I noticed I was getting hungry (uh oh), so I slurped down my gel and kept sipping on my water. As I got back to the run course the leaders were already up at the turnaround (~1.5 miles), so I knew I would be down about 20 minutes going into the run. I cruised back into the park and remembered to get out of my shoes, but I'm still not convinced that's faster vs. keeping the hammer down and just clipping out. I really feel like I lose a lot of time coasting doing that... might have to test it out. At the last turn I got a major abdominal cramp, but luckily it went away. It probably lasted for 20 seconds of agony, though. I screeched into T2 and ran my bike back to the rack.

Nothing, this was a PR ride for me (avg speed). Maybe take 1 more gel, but otherwise I felt great the whole ride on the bike.

Not a bad T1 at :50. I took extra time to grab some food for the run and a bottle of water. I also started running the wrong way out of transition, but a volunteer stopped me and got me to turn around before I went too far. Could have been ~10 secs faster.

Maybe taken a nap or snuck my bike out onto the run course. They might not have noticed that....

Brutal run. I knew it was going to be rough having not run in a month, but it sucked more than I thought. My goal was 50 minutes, and I was really hoping for 48. Wasn't even close. I felt okay coming out of T2, and my plan was to not push too hard and just do as well as I could. My calf felt good, and I was munching my food, but I just didn't have the energy. After I passed the turnaround I already felt like I had to back off my pace, so I did and tried not to worry about the people passing me.

The main thing I noticed on the course? The volunteers handing out drinks and cheering everyone on were AWESOME. They were a serious motivation, and they made a terrible run for me so much better. Amidst my laboring and blowing up they even cracked me up a few times. Thank you all!!

On the first lap I made the trip down the side road and back up ok and got back on the made road for the long trek towards the turnaround. It couldn't be too far, I thought, but it still wasn't around the next bend. I kept going, though, and finally I saw the police car in the distance, so I knew I was almost there. I made the turnaround and knew I could relax a little back to end of lap 1 since it was downhill the whole way. I got into a little bit of a groove there and would have been ok had it been a 5K. At the end of the first lap my wife said my time was 24:30. About a minute off my last 5K time (as expected), but not too terrible. I wish she had told me that so I would have maybe had that mental edge for the second lap....

I huffed it up the hill to the side road, but at that point I was running on "E" for sure. In the shade on the gravel going downhill, though, I immdediately felt better, to I stretched off my under armor top and tucked it in my shorts. I grabbed a water at the turn and made it back to the main road, but once I got away from the cheers of the volunteers I finally succomed to walking. I walked for maybe 15-20 seconds and made myself start running again. I starting pacing a few people in front of me - most were running, but some were run/walking. That lasted almost to the turn, but as the hill got steeper I had to stop and walk again. I started running and made it to the turn, and I was happy that the end was coming.

On the way back I had to stop one more time, even while running on a slight downhill. I kept trying to harden up, but I was completely out of energy. After that third walk I made myself keep running to the finish. As I saw the gate to the park I felt a little better and just lowered my head to the end. I came around to see the clock, and the final was at the high end of where I wanted to finish. At least that run was over!

Obviously run training would have helped me a lot. I'm also not sure how much nutrition, or lack thereof, played into my poor run performance.

I graciously skipped the lady clipping off time chips, but I was happy to grab the bottles of water the great volunteers were handing out. I sat down and poured water all over my chest and back to cool off. My wife went and grabbed me a coke, and I slurped that down in about 3 shots! Afterwards I returned my trip and snacked on bananas, bagels with PB, and cookies. After the race we loaded up my gear and headed home. We went out to a big lunch with a couple of beers to celebrate. The first Oly is in the bag!


Run training obviously, but running and swimming overall. My calf felt good throughout the run, so I'm looking forward to getting back into run training before my next event. I also need to study up on nutrition for an olympic to see if I came up way short there.


This was a nice race by Setup, especially with the energy the volunteers brought to the run course. The Kerr Lake area is a nice facility with a clean beach and clean water.

I felt the swim was longer than 1500, but that seems like a tough thing to judge. I also overheard a few people with GPS say the run course was long after the race. The roads on the bike course were 50/50 - some were great, and some were in need of a pave.

I'll have to think about signing up for another Olympic, now!