horn goes off, and i take a step and dive under a wave. swam a bit and struggled to get into a rythym. waves and others crashing into me. Was a weird feeling swimming and then going up a wave only to be on the other side and come flying down like in the cartoons.

i got out to the first buoy and was feeling pretty good, i sighted pretty well considering that every stroke i was getting pushed to shore, i got pushed way over to the second buoy even though i was swimming way wide of it. I didn't push as much as I wanted to due to the rough surf. on my garmin my average was 1:57 so i felt pretty good considering.

got out of the water and ran to the finish chute and then had a half mile run to transition. i did a kind of jog. got passed by a few folks. i typically don't run real well out of the water so i didn't want to torch myself.

got into transition and took off my suit without too many problems. i didn't go as fast as i had hoped. i had nothing to lean on. but suit came off and didn't get stuck. put on my bike shoes, helmet sunglasses. put my garmin on the bracket and grabbed my bike and ran to the mount line.


Nothing

mounted the bike well and got clipped in without too much problem. started pedalling and couldn't get comfortable. seemed like i was pedalling hard but i was only going 15 mph with a 90 rpm cadence.
changed gears to get going and got out of breath and legs on fire almost immediately. changed to a lower gear and felt better but was only cruising along at 15-16 mph. something was wrong.

2 miles in and i couldn't get up to speed without getting completley gassed. Shannon passed me on an uphill and screamed 'come on Latimer get up that hill'. I chuckled but couldn't. I was cooked.

My mind started spinning and tried to think what was wrong. I either swam too fast, although 10 min wasn't too fast. Swallowed too much salt water, but i didn't feel nauseous. The long run from the swim to T1, I didn't sprint, i ran more than i usually do, but i felt sluggish but not exhausted. Lack of training, i hadn't been on the road in a while, and my trainer sessions are tough to evaluate. Lack of training. Oh well. i thought i could do well, but clearly not.

Suck up the bike and see how you do on the run.

When i got home I pulled my bike off and spun the back wheel. it made two revolutions and stopped. My brake caliper was rubbing on my back wheel. Never even crossed my mind.


check the wheel. if i ever feel like that and not sure why i can't get up to speed. get off the bike and check it out. No idea how that happened. bike felt good the day before, but i wasn't on the road, i only did a trainer session.

coming into t2, i misjudged the distance to the dismount line. i tried to stand and coast but bled off too much speed. i got back onto my other shoe and pushed it into the ground. off my shoe came. i had to stop and go get it.

coming into t2, i misjudged the distance to the dismount line. i tried to stand and coast but bled off too much speed. i got back onto my other shoe and pushed it into the ground. off my shoe came. i had to stop and go get it.

helmet off, sneakers on, hat and belt on out of t2.


not lose my shoe.

started off at about a 9:00 min/mile pace. was going to let up a bit, and got passed by a cute girl. decided to hang with her as if i blew up my day was shot anyway. i hung with her for a bit and then eventually passed her at about the half mile mark.

I only slowed down to a walk at the aid station to sip some water.

i was pacing a guy in the first wave, and thought i could sneak past him. i let him go too far, and couldn't catch up. i probably could have stayed with him but i pushed the last 50 yards and had to sit and catch my breath. so i'm not sure i could have kept that pace the rest of the way.



maybe push harder at the turn around.

sat and collected my breath and recovered. got my results and some food. headed back to transition to get my stuff. was going to hang out and see if i could win one of the wetsuits but decided to just leave and go home to my family.


lack of training. didn't run according to plan. bike break really hurt my bike.


Good race, started a little late. the swim buoys got put out late so I think that's why.