This leg turned out pretty much as I expected. Longer pool workouts and longer intervals have definitely worked from a mental perspective, making this swim essentially nothing more than a workout. Stayed relaxed throughout, maintained breathing and stroke count as planned. Not much faster than previous, but I could've gone further. More or less in the zone throughout. Good swim for me.

Start with the quick looks earlier than i actually did.

Pretty average T1, maybe a little slower than usual.

Not much. Jogged most of the way to my rack, so wetsuit removal, which went OK, was probably reason for slowness.

Bike leg came out a little slower than I expected, and my power numbers were also lower than what I expected my race level to be. So that's frustrating. Trying to think through what caused the issue, but just not sure. Had difficulty seeing into the sun through fogged and smeared glasses on the outward portion of the first loop, so I ratcheted things down a bit there. It was actually a little scary not being able to see the road surface or much of anything else; other riders were just shadowy forms, so I stayed well back if anyone passed me.

On the second loop things were a little better, but on that outward leg it was still tough looking into the sun. I just watched the riders in front of me closely and mimicked their movements around potholes and such.

Felt like I pushed just about right, so it was disappointing to see power numbers less than what I'd expected, indicating I potentially didn't push myself as hard as I should have. And given the way the run went, that's hard to believe. But I think biggest limiter here was the discomfort with visibility when riding into the sun, which slowed me down a little.

Would've liked to crack two minutes here. Always have difficulty fighting with my right shoe to get it on cleanly.

Not too much. Wouldn't hurt to practice this, or get more comfortable balancing on left leg while putting on right shoe.

Wheels fell off here. Was a humid morning and I was sucking moist air after maybe 10 minutes and struggling to breathe. Tried to keep trudging along but after the homeward water stop (through which I walked to splash water down my back), it was tough to keep going. I managed, but only at a very slow jog with intermittent walking breaks.

I'm really baffled by the runs this year, including this one. My brick runs (although typically only a mile or so) have not been problematic. And my weekly runs haven't been problems either, although the heat and humidity this summer have been tough and likely played a role today. But I can only assume one of (or a combination of) the following: insufficient conditioning, new normal due to age (please don't let this be it), too hard on the bike (which doesn't jive with numbers there), or external factors (illness, weather, etc.). Again, I think humidity was an issue - it was very uncomfortable out there - so a slower pace would be dictated, but I wouldn't think it would make this much difference.

Walked around, drank a couple bottles of water, ate some food.


I think weather played a factor, although I've been training in similar. I'm worried maybe I'm just not adequately conditioned this year for some reason, even though I'm training similarly. Wonder if all of the flux associated with our moves and home closings and housing challenges have had an effect.


One of my favorite races. They were only about five minutes late starting the swim, so no biggie there. DQ does a nice job.