Not my best swim. After the second turn I spotted the wrong buoy, so I went a bit further than I was supposed to before I realized that everyone else (except for one other guy) had already turned. Then going toward the exit we were sighting into the sun, so it was hard to see anything, which made aiming for the exit difficult until you got close to it.

Pay attention when they tell where the course goes. Sight the correct buoy.

There was a several hundred yard run to get from the river to transition. That went well. When I got to my spot everything went well, although I feel like I was fumbling just a bit to get everything done quickly. At the mount line I got on my bike but couldn't get clipped in, which was a little embarrassing. But since that was past the timing mat, that added time to my bike leg. Had the fastest transition in my age group, and it looks like the fastest overall was only 1:43.

Practice the transition a little more. Clip in better.

Felt great on the bike! Was only passed by 4 people (until the "incident"), and I passed 3! At the end there was a bit of not-so-well-marked course, where we exited Ellington Pkwy and headed back toward transition. The sign pointed straight ahead, but there were cones across the road. There was a course mile marker just past the cones, and there was a rider several hundred yards ahead of me on the road. However, there was also an exit from the Pkwy that was not blocked off, which would have been the obvious way to go if there wasn't a sign that said go straight and a course marker on the other side of the cones! I slowed to a complete stop at the junction and then was passed by a group of three people who yelled at me that this was where we were supposed to get off. As I started following them I saw the guy ahead on the road turning around to come back, so I figured they must be right. Anyway, caught back up to them and finished strong. Felt faster than my time reflects, but again I took a long time to get clipped in and I also stopped on the course.

Practice clipping in. And actually read the course layout, so I don't have to rely on unclear signage (my own fault, I know...).

Everything went smoothly here.

Felt great on the run. The entire thing was a mental exercise, since there was nobody else on the course! There was a guy who left transition before me that I couldn't catch, then there were two people who passed me, and those were the only people I saw on the entire run. Weird. I was only 3 seconds off my standalone 5K PR, which is awesome!

Walked around, ate some fruit, watched the finish line for about an hour.


I was pretty dehydrated from drinking the day before. Also, I wasn't well prepared in terms of knowing the course.