After being rough all week the ocean was calm for raceday. Luckily I didn’t see a single jellyfish on this trip. Instead of starting the pros 50 yards out into the ocean like last year, they started them on the beach 10 minutes early. I positioned myself back and outside with other boppers. I tried drafting a few times, but everyone was constantly stopping. I finally swam to the outside and stayed there for the rest of the race. I was a little depressed to finish the first loop in 59 minutes, not knowing till after the race that it included the extra 10 minutes for the pros. I could feel the back of my neck chafing from the wetsuit during the second loop, the duct tape I put on my neck didn’t cover enough area. Last year the body glide didn’t help much either. After a 59 minute first lap I was surprised (and confused) to see 1:42 for a swim total time. Looked back and saw over 100 swimmers still out there, a little better than last year. Off to transition.

Learn to sight and swim straight. I believe I could cut 15 minutes off my time without swimming faster. I saw a lot of people come to a stop to sight, this problem is more common than I thought.

Grabbed my glasses off the table, ran up to the transition building where a volunteer gave me my swim to bike bag. After changing I ran out the door and another volunteer gave me my bike. My HR was fine in the swim but by the time I got to the T1 building it was pretty high.

Focus more. Dump the bag out, undress, and put all swim items into the bag first. Then dress.

Put a small bottle of water in my bag.

The aid stations are about 10 miles apart. I planned to drink one bottle of water every 10 miles. I also planned to drink a 1200 calorie bottle of G3/water mix for each half of the bike. Lastly, I took 1 Enduralyte every 15 minutes throughout the entire race. Other than having a large German Shepard run out in front of me (scared the crXp out of me) nothing unusual was happening. My average speed at mile 55 was 15.7, OK for me. I skipped my special needs bag.

I felt pretty good till about miles 85 thru 100, where the road is cracked and bumpy (lots of vibration). There was also a head wind during this time, and I was only going 13-15 mph. I lost my energy here. This was the low point of the race and I began to worry about my run. Cyclists that I had passed were now passing me. Around mile 100 the road surface was better, but I now noticed a very slight wobble in by back wheel. I did 14-16 mph with a tailwind till the end, worrying about further warping the wheel and another DNF. I took another Immonium AD before the end of the bike as planned. It was great to finish this leg. I left about 300 calories of G3 on the bike.

Instead of staying behind people that I felt were going my speed, pass them to find out for sure. If they pass me right back that's OK. Be more aggressive.

Get a different rear wheel, some kind of race wheel with blades instead of spokes. I had broken a spoke and the wheel was rubbing quite a bit when I checked the bike the next morning.

I will also bring some strong antacids next year.

Learn how to 'go' on the go. Only made one pit stop but had to stand in line behind 2 others.

Dismounted where instructed and passed the bike off to a volunteer. Got my bike to run bag and sat down, took a look at my watch and realized that I was ahead of last years time. This caused the adrenaline to flow just a little. Last year I DNF’d with bad blisters during the first half of the run. The blisters were the same size, shape and location as my Speedplay pedals, and spread to my entire front pads. This year I switched from plastic soles to carbon soles, and had absolutely no hotspots during the ride. However, I still took the time to put Hydropel on my feet and put on a pair of Injinji socks, they take a while to put on. I made a pit stop in transition, got some water and went out on the run

Hit the chrono lap function on my watch to keep me focused. Blister prevention took up about 3-4 minutes. 15 minutes is riduculous, but it was nice to not have blisters.

I started running a 4/1 but at mile 1 switched to 3/2. I carried 4 fuelbelt bottles of a G3/water mixture for each loop (2 loop course) and drank 1/3 bottle with water and 1 Enduralyte at each aid station. Nothing but water from the aid stations during the entire race. Somewhere around mile 2 or 3 I realized that I was feeling pretty good and estimated that I was running about a 10 minute pace during the running portion of the 3/2. The run course winds through a number of neighborhoods and at times it was hard to sense progress. Seeing the single digit mile markers every mile reminded me that I was at the beginning of a marathon rather than just finishing a triathlon. There was a constant flow of faster runners passing, they were already in their second loop. It became dark around mile 4 which made me comfortable for some reason. At mile 10 I passed a guy who was taking a walk break. He said ‘Great pace, three more miles to go’. When I let him know I was in my first loop and had 16 more miles to go he looked a little embarrassed and said ‘Hang tough, it’s worth every step.’ By then I was pretty pumped and kept cruising along. I stopped and took 4 more fuelbelt bottles out of my run special needs bag at mile 13.

I finally went through the 1st loop chute and took the 2nd loop turn around. There I saw my wife Shelley trying to take a picture of me. I touched her arm as I went by and told her I felt great. She put up with me through all this and it was my way to let her know we were finishing this year.

Around mile 15 just about everyone going in my direction was walking, the waves of runners were no longer passing me. I continued with the 3/2 and began to pass others. About a mile before the 20 mile turn-around I saw a guy running in the other direction wearing a tuxedo and a race number. I wondered how many beers he had before he made the bet. At mile 21 a member of the support staff rode by on a bike telling everyone that we will make the cutoff and we need to take it real easy all the way in. I wanted to break 15:30 and stuck with the 3/2. A half mile out from the finish line a young lady ran by, it was good to see her running. About 75 yards to the finish another runner passed, covered in loose silver Mylar from his neck down to the running shoes, hammering out about a 7 minute pace to the finish line with the Mylar rattling behind him. He must have been even more pumped than I was.

I finally crossed the line. I was given a space blanket and a medal, and had my picture taken. I grabbed a couple of pieces of pizza and found my wife in the reunion area. Without her support there is no way I would be here a second year, and probably would not have been at the starting line the first year. It’s a long trip but those last few miles are a blast, and like the guy said, ‘It’s worth every step’.

Nothing.

Transition times, crooked swimming and a broken wheel. I could have easily saved 30-45 minutes without additional effort and finished around 14:30.