Wow what a rough swim. Started out on the outside by the docks and had intended to stay to the right of the main pack for most of the swim. Well everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face which I did, repeatedly. I actually like this type of start, but it can be a little hard to find a rhythm. Needless to say I was jostled around a bit, and when I finally felt I was in some clean water I looked up and I was on the buoy line. WTF?? Reallly dude? Oh well and away we go. I seemed to get into pockets of clean water that closed up pretty fast on the way out. It got really tight around the first turn buoy. Then as we started to come back towards where the waterway mouth was I found that the clean water was on the buoy line. It seemed everyone was hugging the coast as the shortest point from a to b. Made sense but I was just glad to find a rhythm where I was at. As we turned into the waterway it got really crazy. The canal isn't that wide and it's only 4 feet deep so it turned into a washing machine. That and the fact you could stand up led several people to do so and I swam right into their backs. Soon enough we were at the last turn buoy. It was overcast when we went in. I noticed all the clouds were gone when we got out. I knew at this point we were in for a long, hot day.

Be able to hold my like off the start better. More swim training.

Ran into a couple friends in the changing tent. Guys who given their swim ability should have been long gone by that point. Made me feel better about my performance. This seemed really easy for me because I wasn't going full wardrobe change. Just swimskin off, shoes and helmet on, and go.

Nothing. Oh not drop my MyAthleteLive tracker. That will be a costly mistake $$ wise.

Here is where we start to run into some issues. At some point between the time I aired up my tires that morning and the time I grabbed my bike the front brake had been jarred so that the front left pad was rubbing. I didn't know this at the time, but about mile 5 I figured it out. Damn. So I pulled over to the side of Woodlands Parkway and yanked on it a bit. It gave me a tiny bit of clearance so I figured I roll with it. Mistake. Should have fixed the issue right there. Anyway it wasn't rubbing at the time so I proceeded on. Out the Parkway, take a right and head north. Tailwind. 24 mph with no effort really. Gotta love it. About 10 miles down the road I hear the brake again. Little tug and we're good. I seem to be in the middle of a good sized pack here. You can tell who has the plan to attack the up hills, who is playing it steady throughout, and who is attacking the down hills because we all keep leap frogging each other. At aid station #3 the idiots in front of me decide to stop to grab their bottles, and not only stop but park the bikes caddy corner blocking people from going around. Really? Here is the first time when I sprayed myself down with a water bottle that it hurt down there. Really wasn't anticipating that. IM rookie. Finally as we roll into the national forest things start to thin out. Still the brake is rubbing periodically. So annoying. Boom, down through the Osborne section of the course. It's HEAVILY shaded and feels about 10 degrees cooler on this miserably hot day. We rolled on. I seemed to be around this dude in a Felt kit for the front half of the ride. Finally as we roll into Richards I'd had enough of my brake so I pulled out the allen wrench and "fixed" it. Probably should have done this originally. Out into the wind now as we roll through the miserable box past Richards and then head directly into the wind going back towards town. It's here that I pass a couple friends. The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful until mile 90ish. See I had blown through special needs because I felt great. I should have grabbed my salt tabs. About the time I blew through there I started to need a salt tab every 30 minutes instead of the planned hour. So at mile 90 I was out. Oops. So from there I found 19.5 to be the ceiling on where I could go without cramping. You live, you learn right? As I said the rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. As I pulled into the chute I decided against a flying dismount and just came to a full stop. I could just see myself cramping as I threw my leg over the saddle. Not what I wanted to do.

More salt tabs. Fix mechanical issues sooner instead of tinkering.

Got in the tent and there were people sprawled out EVERYWHERE on the ground. The heat was a mother and it was very evident in T2, and it would only get worse. I put on more Vaseline on my underarms where I had started to chafe. Downed some Perform and chatted with Brian Reina for a bit while changing.

Nothing.

So this was just a sufferfest for me, as it appeared to be for a lot of the field. I have a 4 hour IM marathon in me, the heat on this day said "Not today". The plan was to run 8:30s out of the shoot and to walk every other aid station. So I came out running a 9 and grabbed my stuff on the go at the first aid station. OK, close to plan. As I came back from the little jaunt out the unpaved section of course to go up this little embankment I felt my stomach cramp up. Uh oh. I ran on. The next aid station I walked not sure what my stomach was doing I stayed to the plan (drink Perform, water on head, ice down shorts) and thought about the porta potty. I ran on. Over the bridge and into the park where the swim start was. I said no to the special needs folks here, but I was convinced I needed to do some business in a port a poty. Nothing. Huh. So I ran on. I think I stopped at every other potty for the first 13 miles before my stomach kind of settled. From there on my goal was to run aid station to aid station. I succeeded at times and failed at others. The electricity along the Waterway made you feel no paid, but there were portions of the course where all you could think about was the Med Tent and an IV sure sound good right about now. I ran into my friend Jim on the last lap and we kept each other going for a while. I had to stop at around mile 21 to walk a little and he was feeling good so on he went. As I came around the bend for the last out and back portion of the course (about the 2 mile mark) I was told my buddy Toby was at the top of the hill and that I should run him down. So with my last bit of energy I got my butt to the top of the hill, grabbed a Perform and a Coke on the run and pinched Toby on the rear as I went by. And off we went on a full sprint. After about a half mile the dialogue went like this:

Me: You could slow down you know
T: You first.
Me: OK (slows down)
Me after catching back up: Dude you didn't slow down
T: I didn't?
Me: I'm going to puke
T: Yeah.
As we go down the out and back of the chute.
T: Dammit you have the inside.
Me: Haha
As we came up the stretch towards the finish there was a slower runner on our right and I kinda squeezed Toby thinking there was room on the other side of the guy. (Apparently there wasn't and that was my bad) We finished 2 seconds apart. Really the best part of an otherwise brutal day.

More salt on the bike. Try to figure out a way to acclimate to the heat when there just hasn't been any. Learn to suffer at a faster pace. Still need a bigger base.

Hugged it out with my boy Toby and then took some pics with our friends who happened to be catching at the finish at the time. Then I waddled my butt to the shower and to get my bike.


I've been working at building a bigger base for over a year and this needs to continue. The heat just ate me up.


I'd love this race if it were a month earlier.