was shooting for low 18 minutes. i think i took it a little too easy. I started in wave 8 so there were close to 300 people in front of me.

I was actually surprised how little traffic there was. i really only have to move around a handful of people.

push it a little harder.

no real issues.

try to run in transition. this is a fairly long transition distance.

the first 8 miles were congested with the sprint racers. after the olympic distance turn off happened it really cleared out.

I was passed by many people going up hill and passed a some people on the flats.


It was very windy out. It was nice to race with my helmet and wheels. I just relaxed my torso as much as possible to be as aero as i can. I improved by almost 2 minutes over last year, even though it was much windier. Most competitors had a significantly slower bike split from last year, so that is promising for the race season.

I am a little intrigued/concerned about the fact that my heart rate was where it was supposed to be at the beginning and decreased the whole ride. My legs were telling me they were working hard, but 140s is way to low for a race.



I need to work on hills.

I also think i need to have longer interval training. I need to be able to maintain a hard effort for that distance of race.

no real incidents

nothing pretty pleased

started running at 7 min/mile. had to stop for a second at the mile one to remove 2 rocks in my shoe that were driving me nuts. Right when i started going up the hill around mile 2.5 i was getting a side stitch. I slowed down and nothing changed, so i had to walk for a few seconds. Then i got passed by the first person in my AG. He was not flying along. so i thought i could maybe hang with him in sight.

At the turn around i felt much better and then i got to go down the big hill. It was nice. just keep my feet under me and let it fly.

I never saw the guy that passed me again. I tried to pick it up to see if i can catch him. I felt good the rest of the way in.

Then with about 50 yards to go, i was slowly passed by another guy in my AG. I then told myself to pass him. When i passed he did not change his effort at all. I beat him by one second.



drink a little more water and a little less nutrition on the bike. I think that is why i was cramping.

Once pukey feeling subsided,then i waded into the lake. it was nice and cold and felt good.


Hill training in both running and biking. also the lack of speedwork. I have had great mileage for me and that helped, but i need to be able to embrace the highend pain of pushing the pace.


Over-all this was a 5 minute improvement from last year. With the wind, i am very happy with my performance. usually the top 3 in each age group are around 2:10. none of the fast people were there today. SO i am pleased with 2nd place in my AG.

The past 2 years the post race food was very good. this year it was cookies, some bananas and apples not enough for every race. there were 3 food trucks there that people could buy food. I suppose i should plan a little recovery food and bring it with me. Mcdonalds was very grateful for the lack of food. wow they were packed.

This is still a very well run race. I know of a couple of timing issues, but that unfortunately will happen. There are so many volunteers and traffic is well tended to.I look forward to racing it again next year.

It was great to chat with Ryan, jodi, and david after.