Overall a pretty good swim. I think I swam a little off course but not horrible. Felt good after rounding first buoy. Starting to feel it after 2nd buoy and realized there was still more swim left than I though after the 2nd buoy. I was 4th out of the water in my wave (M40-49) and only 12 seconds off the lead person.

Not much. Overall I was happy with my swim for early in the season. Need to work a little more on sighting.

T1 was a little slow. Although I think it included the run to transition. Wetsuit got a little stuck around the ankles. Once it was off, I put my helmet and glasses, un-racked my bike and headed out. This was my first time I tried mounting the bike with shoes pre-attached to the pedals. I did practice a few times on Sat, but apparently not enough. I think part of the problem was that my feet were still too cold and I couldn't feel them. Once I was on the bike, my left foot slipped off and I tried to flip shoe around on pedal, but it took longer than I hoped and I was now slowing down too much. Once my foot was on the top of my shoe again, I started pedaling again to get back up to speed so I could buckle shoes. It took a little longer than I thought to get all buckled in. Lost more time than I wanted.

practice T1 and mounting.

Started off real strong. Avg over 24mph for first mile. Was feeling pretty good. Noticed that hydration system was not attached real well so tried to fix while riding. Lost a little time and not able to really fix. I also realized that the straw was too short. I need to work on this later. There were a lot more rolling hills than I thought and they started to burn a little in my quads. Stayed aero for most of the race though. At one of the intersections the traffic cop was pointing to a car to turn right but I though he meant for me to turn right so I didm but I should have turned left. turned around quickly and got back up to speed. Started to feel better towards the end. Nobody passed me on the bike.

Fix hydration system. More hill climbs in aero position.

T2 was a little better, but didnt have any feeling in feet - they were a little numb from the cold. So it was a little hard to put shoes on.

Feet were numb and felt funny. Felt like a bar was running across bottom of my foot. I also had a hard time keeping toes straight. Started off pretty good. Started passing a few people and headed into the woods for the trail part. I never really ran a trail run so this was new, but I like it. I kept thinking I was off course though since there was nobody around. Started to get stomach cramp/stitch around mile 2. Tried to drink water at aid station, but water was warm and hard to swallow. Kept moving. Cramp started to go away a little bit and picked up pace on flats. I really dont think I could have pushed it any harder. I was passed by one person about 500 yards from the finish. Tried to keep up, but he was going too fast for me. Very excited to see my time when I crossed the line. I beat my goal.

Good run for me, especially for first of the season. Working more on hills and speed will help. Avg HR is a little low for where I should be also.

walked around and looked for something to drink. No recovery drinks were around so had a vitamin water and then headed to transition so I could make a Recoverite.


Overall I like this race and would do it again. Swag bag was a little weak though. Only a shirt and no other giveaways. Not even a Gel or drink mix.

I finished 2nd in my AG (2 out of 16). Not sure if this qualifies me for nationals or not though. I need to find out.