346/373 pretty much says it all. I'm too embarassed to fully describe the swim. It actually started pretty good for me! I wasn't going too fast, I was sighting the first turn pretty well. But even though the water was fairly calm, I could not stop taking in water with almost every breath. I got physically sick from it, and I even starting to wonder exactly how (logistically) I was going to try to puke in the water. But somehow I got to the last turn and just sucked it up and made it to the shore.

Apparently I need to learn how to not swallow gallons of water. I knew my OWS practice leading up to this race was lacking but this was ridiculous. It almost ruined the rest of the race for me. Obviously this offseason I'll keep swimming at the college, but I don't think thats the problem here because I've been doing GREAT in the pool lately. When the water starts getting warmer next year I just better get in it and learn how to OWS properly.

There was a slight jog from the swim exit up the beach and across a road to transition. But the bulk of this time was spent burping and trying to recover. I felt like I was in a slow motion daze.

Can't really critique this transition fairly.

For the first mile or two I was going pretty slow. I began to worry that the swim had hurt me so bad that I was toasted for the rest of the race. But then my bike legs finally came around and I began going at a good pace. All of the climbs were in the last half of the bike course, and I thoroughly enjoyed passing massive groups of people on each one. One guy even complimented my climbing which was pretty cool.

Ok that was the good, but here is the bad. I couldn't eat or drink anything on the bike. I was so bloated from the swim the entire time. I forced myself to drink a little less than 1/2 of a bottle and choked down 3 clif shot bloks. This was wayyyyy less than I planned on taking in on the bike. I knew this would end up hurting me bad on the run, but I just couldn't eat/drink any more.

Overall this was a great bike. I just wish I wasn't still trashed from the swim and could've taken in some nutrition.

Much better transition here. I got my feet out nice and early this time around. I was a little hesistant about jumping into a full blown run in bare feet because it was on pavement, not grass. But I still dismounted pretty quick and got out to the run without wasting any time.

Nothing

I got through this on pure guts and not much else. I knew due to lack of fluids and calories this was not going to be fast so at the beginning I junked my previous goal and just wanted to try to finish under 50 minutes. Obviously that didn't happen but I'm still pretty proud of this run. By the time the run started, it began getting hot and very humid, which did not help my comfort level. After the first mile or so, I started to get some bad cramps, and they pretty much never let up. It was pure pain from this point on. I tried to do some breathing rythms to help alleviate the pain, and they helped a little. I even attempted to drink some gatorade on the 2nd loop but it was futile and I could only choke down about a sip. When I passed the 5 mile marker, I tried to dig deep and finish strong. Seeing the finish line gave me a burst of speed I didn't think I had left.

Even though I didn't get my goal time, I'm pretty happy with this run. Physically I was just in terrible shape by the time this came around. I was so dehydrated and in pain for most of the run. Despite all of that I was not miserable on the run, and was just happy to be out racing.

Walked around mostly. When I took my stuff to the car I decided to take a 1/2 mile easy spin on my bike before racking it up.


The swim. Not only was I near dead last in that leg, but it ended up affecting my entire race because I could not properly hydrate or fuel my body. Somehow I was still able to put in a good bike leg and tough out a solid run leg so it could've been alot worse.


This was a great race. The volunteers were fantastic and really improved the overall experience, I can't thank them enough, especially for being out there in poor conditions. This race was quite the struggle for me, and hopefully one I can learn from and build on. Despite all the adversity, I was still able to beat my goal time of 2:45:00, of which I could not be prouder.