I didn't feel good from the beginning; I never really felt good; like I was slipping on every stroke. I've been regularly swimming 1:30-1:35/100 so this was a little disappointing. Since California I haven't been in the pool as much as I wanted/should be and it showed up in this race. Overall it wasn't a terrible swim, but I know that I can get another minute without too much more effort. I was in a lane with Tom and lapped him once and was getting close to catching him a second time; I knew I needed as much time as possible to stay ahead of him through the finish as he is a better biker and runner.

Swim more :)

Solid; fast and efficient; passed at least one athlete (in my AG) going through T1.

Nothing.

My goal was to catch as many athletes as possible during the ride; there were a couple that I knew were within striking distance and some that I just wanted to limit the losses. As I started to see athletes at the first turnaround, I made a list of who was ahead of me and worked to stay focused and fast throughout the ride. I passed a couple of athletes from earlier waves before starting to move through my wave on the third lap. I caught one athlete from my age group along with two others from my wave; in addition, I was able to stay in front of Tom (he outsplit me by less than a minute) and less to Jay and Mathieu for the fourth overall bike split. Except for an issue with one of my bike shoe straps (had to put it back through the loop just after getting on the bike) things went smoothly and I was able to ride hard throughout. Having people to chase kept my focus; hard to believe I had a better bike split than run split (first time)!

Very little; need to ensure my straps can't pull through.

Very solid

Nothing.

Felt pretty good; was moving through athletes from previous waves throughout the run. I don't think I caught anyone from my wave but I was focused on trying to say in front of Tom; I saw him just behind me near the beginning of the second lap and thought he was going to catch me. I focused on feeling fast, staying light on my feet and relaxing. As the second lap ended, I saw Tom had made up some ground but I was still a little bit out in front; refocused and worked on being as fast as possible through the finish. As I got to the halfway point of the last lap, I saw Emily just in front of me and realized I might be able to reel her in. So my goal became not only holding Tom off but running Emily down; with about 400m to go she was in range but a little surge and she was able to hold me off. I came through the line 3" behind her but still 16" ahead of Tom.

Very little; may have been able to go a little faster but was pretty close to my ability.

Walked and got changed.


Poor swim; need more time in the pool, a little fine tuning on the run and of course, an actual taper and peak :)


Great first year race - will definitely do this again!