I should not have worn my tri top on the swim - never have before and probably never will again, at least the one that I currently have. Wanted to save time on my T1, so put the HR monitor on for the swim and the tri top on to prevent it from getting slapped/pulled off during the swim. As I was rounding the first buoy, I knew that my underarm was going to be raw by the end of the swim. The tri top had a thick seam under the arm and just tore me up the entire swim. Add to that the fact that it looked like I did the superman slide in the mud after getting out of the water and it was a bad idea all together to wear the top on the swim. That water must have been filthy, because everyone who had a light colored top on looked the same as I did.

Ditch the tri top.

Wow, that was a steep hill going down - almost bit it more than once and the mud didn't help. I hope there were no photographers at the bottom of that thing, because they probably captured the look of fear from me and everyone else at the bottom of that hill. Got to my transition spot and tried to clean some of the mud/grass off before putting my socks on to run out. Did the leap onto my bike and into my shoes after the mount line - worked great.

Get faster - saw someone washing their feet off with a water bottle before putting on their shoes. That would probably keep some of the grass off my feet and in my shoes. I'll definitely incorporate that into the next race.

Right out of transition is probably the worst hill on the course - had a hard time trying to get into a rhythm and start on the nutrition. Once I got going, I seemed to be at a good pace - for me. The bike seems to be my weakest point at this time. I thought I was doing pretty well, but just kept getting passed by some really fast folks. Hopefully, I can work on this more for the next race.

Get more time in the saddle and work on my speed.

Waited a little too long to take my feet out of my shoes on the bike and felt rushed right at the dismount line. Nicked my leg on the pedals trying to make up for it and squeeze them out quickly. I should have taken them out a little earlier. Had trouble hooking the seat on the rack at first, then I couldn't get my last gel into the pocket on the back of my tri shirt. Had to go to the porta-potty on my way out to the run - lost some time there.

Get faster and increase my bladder size?

Had a good run - didn't stop except through the aid stations that I hydrated on and maintained a sub 10 minute pace. I started running earlier this year and could barely manage a 11 minute pace, so I was happy with this at the end of a tri. There were some killer hills going in and out of the underpasses that proved to be difficult at times, but thankfully they were fairly short distances. I saw this guy in my age group pass me about a half mile from the finish and we ended up sprinting to the finish line - good motivator, but it didn't matter anyway, as we found out after crossing the finish line and saw we were in different races. He was in the sprint - oh well.

Keep working on speed and improving.

Had some water and a banana and headed to transition to grab my phone, as I didn't see the wife and kids like I expected. Found out they never made it out there, due to an unexpected trip to the emergency room for my youngest to have x-rays. Luckily, it was nothing, but that ended my day - packed up and went home to help out.


Nothing - just need to keep training and improving.


Great race - the only things that were issues probably couldn't be fixed anyway, like the huge hill you have to run to after swimming and the obstacles (curbs and artificial turf) getting in/out of transition on the bike. One thing though, please relocate a couple of porta-potties into the transition area for next year.