I'm very comfortable in the ocean, but for some reason, it took me a good 250 meters to start relaxing into my rhythm. Just couldn't seem to get it going. Probably the rocking of the waves on the early part of the swim. I'm a surfer/bodyboarder and it shouldn't have slowed me, but it seemed to for some reason. I purposely swam on the outside of the pack as I hate the jostling, and that less-direct line for the buoys would have cost me some time.
Coming in, I kept hoping for a large set wave to bodysurf in, but everytime I'd stop swimming to turn around and look, nothing was coming and I'd resume swimming. Finally caught and bodysurfed a wave in for the last 20 meters.

I'm still thinking about it. I should probably do more ocean swimming. My pace was good in the second half of the swim though.

My best T1 in the 4 tris I've done so far. I was prepared with everything laid out right. Rinsed my feet with a water jug I had and threw on the socks/shoes quickly, and jogged out.

Maybe have a bucket of water to step in instead of pouring water on my feet. Probably would save me about 15 seconds at the most.

This was my best bike in a tri yet. It was my first with a road bike with aerobars (vs. the 35-pound mtn bike I have been racing on). I had alot of fears going in. There was a small hill right at the start, and I was concerned I wouldn't be able to clip in before heading up the hill, but I pulled it off. Then, I was thinking about flatting the whole time, but fortunately, the tire gods smiled on me. I managed to average 18.1 mph for the 15 miles (25kms) of the bike which is faster than any of my training rides even. The course was partly responsible, and adrenaline took care of the rest. It was nice for the first time to be passing several other people rather than them passing me as used to be the case. Finished the 15 miles in about 45 minutes.

Nothing, other than find another drink besides Gatorade. I diluted my Gatorade, and it still didn't agree really well with my stomach.

My first race since buying Speed Laces and it made a huge difference. I used to have these long laces and spent about a minute getting my shoes on and double-knotted. Now, it's about 12 seconds to put both shoes on. Grabbed my visor and race belt and headed out.

Nothing.

The run was a bit of a mystery to me. My goal time for the entire race at the start was 1:30. After my poor swim which took me a good 2-3 minutes longer than it should have, I knew I was behind my pace, but after jamming (for me) on the bike, I thought I'd made up for it. Normally I can run at 9 minute miles no worries. So, when I hit mile 2, I knew I had 1.1 miles to go. and I was at 1:25. I then decided I would/could finish in under 1:35 (wanted to beat a friend's time of 1:35 from last year's race). So, I moved into my 9 min/mile pace and figured no problem.
I passed a few on the run, and some passed me. In the last 1/8 mile, I caught up to and passed two younger guys, but two MORE guys in front of me poured it on seeing me coming up. I sprinted the last 100 yards figuring I must have done the last mile in about 8:30, which would have translated into a finish time of about 1:34 or so. I checked my watch about 45 seconds after finishing and was mystified to see that it said 1:37 and change. No way the last 1.1 would have taken me 12 minutes. That just didn't seem right. I'm wondering if the mileage marker was in the wrong spot, but I won't know my splits until Weds.

Stretch the calves more. Started the run and my calves were sore fron the hard bike and took about a mile to get into a groove. Since this was a sprint, I was going harder than normal in all three legs. I just need to run more too.

They had cups of water, wet paper towels, and bowls with bagels and fruit for everyone. Nice touch. Dumped several cups on my head while I waited nearly an hour for my wife to finish (her wave started about 15-20 minutes after mine). They didn't have results for her and I yet, so we left and went to Papa Jon's and got a large pizza and a big bottle of Coke! Yeah!


My training has always been endurance-based rather than speed-based. I suffer a bit when I push my pace as a result, but I will work on speed next season.


Definitely the best-supported and most organized of the 4 tris I've done so far.
Had fun racing with my wife! I have my second Oly in 6 days, so this was a good "warmup", though it was quite an exertion in itself!