Man what a swim! By far the best swim I have ever had in a tri yet! I was so pumped coming out of the water today that I am sure between my bald head and the smile that was on my face that all the people on the beach where blinded. :)

This was a beach start which was a first for me. My previous three tris where all in water starts. I got in the middle of my wave and took off when the horn sounded. I haven't ever dolphin kicked/dive so I ran in as deep as possible and then just dove in and started swimming. It was an ok start, but I guess I might need to work on this.

I was doing good for the first 50-100yds I would guess and then it happened. I started to hyperventilate for some reason and I just couldn't breathe. So I pulled my head out of the water, did the breast stroke for a couple of seconds and things calmed down. Started out again and never had a problem the rest of the swim. My sighting was awesome, never went off course the entire time, stayed just outside of the buoys and made fairly tight turns.

I passed a few folks in the swim, which is a very unusual event for me :) and over all I just felt fantastic. I was recalling my previous three swims while I was swimming in this one and I was just amazed that less than a year ago, I couldn't swim at all, period and that today I was getting out of the water at 15 minutes and felt awesome.

There was a little bit of a run up to TA which took me about a minute or so maybe less.

This swim gave me the confidence to know that I could have made the turn and done a 2nd lap if I was doing the Oly race. I was still very refreshed and had plenty left for another lap if I had needed to. Now don't get me wrong, it was slow going, but man I just didn't care, I could have floated to TA I was so happy.

No a lot to be honest. I might need to learn how to draft better and maybe push a little harder at the sprint distance swims, but overall this was easily the best swim I have ever had, no matter what the time says!

This seemed like forever today. I did have to grab a couple of gels and put them into my pockets, but man I didn't think it would cost me that much time. I mean the last race I was in I had to remove a wetsuit and I think the T1 time was very close to this also. :)

Don't know really, speed up somehow and figure out a way to get the gels in my pockets for the swim maybe?

First I have to say that there was one spot that HFP really screwed up on in my opinion. They normally do great races, but the bike mount area of this race was just a huge cluster f*&k in my opinion. You came out of TA and turned right. The bike mount area was right outside TA but you had to go down a chute alongside of the TA and you where really supposed to stay single file until you got down and made the 180 degree turn back out of the TA spot. When I was trying to get out of T1 there where 6-7 bikes leaving at the same time and it was congested and slow, no doubt about it.

The bike itself though was great. Need to give a bit of background on this though because I have had major issues with my bike all week leading up to the race. About a week or so ago I had a flat on my rear tire while on a ride. No big deal, changed it and moved on. Went for a short ride with my wife Friday night at the camp grounds and no issues. I got up Saturday morning and I was planning on pre-riding the bike course with Alice. I road down to meet her and then we headed over to HFP to see if they might have a map so we knew where we where going. As we get ready to pull out I asked Alice if my back tire looked low as things felt really heavy. Yup it sure was, so we rode over to her camper and by the time I got there it was completely flat. So no problems I took my last tube and changed is semi-quickly while talking with Dave and the kids and then Alice and I headed out. About 7 miles later the tire is flat again and won't hold air. I had to call the wife to come pick me up and then figure out how to get it fixed prior to Sunday. (Alice if you are reading this dear, I again apologize for holding up the ride that day, not what I was expecting that is for sure. :D )

I ended up having to drive to Toledo and have a bike shop change the flat out for me. The holes where in the exact same spot on both flats, outside right on the seam. It looked like I just got a bad batch of tubes or something. they fixed me up, bought an extra tube for the race and out we went.

So because of the above I spent the first 7 miles or so constantly looking at my back tire and wondering if it was going flat or not. Finally after a long while I finally just said forget it, if it goes flat it goes flat.

I couldn't get my HR to settle down for anything, so I just rode. It was in upper Z4 maybe Z5 but I was riding comfortably. Actually too comfortable as I really think I could have pushed harder. Flat courses are great for speed, but they do have a down side, YOU NEVER STOP PEDALING! :)

Now for a little rant. Again I am normally riding the bike course alone due to my slow swim times, but today I started in a good group of bikes. I saw a number of things that just plain disturbed me. First was drafting...can't do anything about it and I know it happens all the time, but it still frustrated me, especially as I watched the pack pull away, but I would rather ride correctly and be left behind than stay with them and know I was riding illegally. Second was blocking. I can't tell you the number of times I saw folks getting passed and they would come up out of their saddle. Now again, we where not on a hilly course! There was not a single hill on the course at all, so why are these folks getting out of their saddles right when someone is trying to pass them? Third was a guy that cut a corner and in my opinion was very lucky there wasn't a car coming. Orange cones where set up at each corner and just like in a car, you are expected to stay to the right of the cones. I had given him plenty of room to make the corner, but he went left of the cones, because I knew he was coming up on me I went a bit further right than normal and I couldn't make the turn. I had two options, turn sharp quickly and risk hitting a pebble and going down or go off the road. I choose the later of those options and went off the road into the dirt/grass. I almost had my first biking accident right there. Somehow I was able to keep the bike up right and get back on the road, but it was a scary moment for me.

Did any of these items effect my race, nope. Did any of them make a difference in the spot I finished, most likely not considering where I placed, but it was still a little frustrating and disappointing.

Push harder. I road way to comfortably on this course and I could have pushed more. Sure my bike speeds are fast, but did you see everyone else's? :)

The race results say 23KM (14.2 miles) but my Garmin clocked in at 13.43 miles, that is a pretty bid difference...but oh well everyone road the same course.

Ok so I get back to T2 and someone had racked their (her) bike in my spot right over all of my gear! I know who the lady was because she was a bit upset that she didn't get the end spot on the rack and actually had an argument with another person on our rack about bike placement. No way she could have been mistaken as her bike was perfectly over my stuff.

I was a bit frustrated but again in the grand scheme of things it didn't make a difference. I still had to get my stuff on, which I just didn't do fast enough today.

I just felt like I was moving in slow motion today in both T1 and T2. I bought yankz for my running shoes but I forgot to put them in :) so that cost me some time.

Get the yankz in my running shoes. Go a little faster. My slowness today in transition cost me a sub 1:30 today for sure. :(

As with the swim, I think this was by far my best 5k run in a race yet. I haven't looked to make sure, but I know I felt awesome. I did have a cramp in my left calf again just out of T2 but I stopped, rubbed it for a bit and then was able to head out still.

Looking at my Garmin says that I let up a bit on mile #2.

Mile #1 - 8:43 (very fast for me, but I was feeling really good)
Mile #2 - 9:12ish
Mile #3.1 - 8:50ish

I didn't look at my Garmin on this leg much. I just ran for a change. I ran until it hurt and then I kept it right there. I might have been able to push a little harder in the 2nd mile but I don't know to be honest.

The run course setup was great. You got to see the fans on the way out, then again as you passed the TA spot just before the turn around, then again right after the turn around and lastly at the finish line. It was awesome to see so many people on a leg that is usually empty. Their energy sure helped me on this run that is for sure!

Not much...it was a really good run for me.

Walked around, got some food and then talked with the wife, David and Alice.


I loved this race. The location was awesome and other than the issue with the bike mount point, the race was fantastic. I can't wait until next year!