Had a pretty good swim. Water was calm. I started right on the buoy line and towards the front. Really no contact to speak of. Didn't draft too well and after getting on some feet that faded after the first half and were swerving going across I decided not to waste my energy and just to swim on my own. It was hard to see between the first and second turn buoy. Really bad glare but I think I was pretty straight going across.

I generally don't swim very hard at these races. I just get into cruise control and go my pace.


Maybe use some bursts to get on feet here and there. Time savings just doesn't seem worth the effort here.

I raced without a bag and made a nutrition adjustment based on the weather so had to jam some stuff in my pockets that took a little time. Also a long run-up in the wetsuit with no strippers so that added some.

This is a tough bike course to go fast on. If you are a little weak on the bike this course will expose it pretty quickly. You can't fake it here and need power to race this one well.

I forgot my HR monitor and was going to just ride by feel anyway and let my power be in a ballpark range. I stayed within myself and never went into the red but did spike watts purposely cresting some of the shorter rollers to maintain speed over the descents.

avg watts 227
normalized power 253
avg cadence 78

30sec peak power 447
1min 362
3min 300
5min 284

When I saw a long climb coming I just let people go and kept it under 300.

Joule had this at 4,200 ft of climbing. It was no joke.

Hit 51.5mph in the aero bars on one of the descents. Came to the realization I'm either way more aero than some people or just have a much higher risk tolerance but passed a lot of people on a lot of downhills after power over the crests.

Not sure of split relative to the field yet but it says I moved from 162nd to 44th overall and 35th to 13th in AG.

I did make a call and adjust my nutrition based on the weather. I've done it in training too so was used to it but I only took 1 500 calorie bottle with me on the bike and 2 EFS liquid shot flasks in my pockets of 400 calories each. It was the right call because it was cool and it would have been a little too much liquid if I took down 3 bottles like I originally planned. Also grabbed a gatorade and drank half and tossed it and did the same with a water along the way. I weigh enough so wasn't about to carry around 2 full bottles with me for no reason up the hills.

Nothing really. I think I biked it about right. If this were Timberman I would have probably been up over 23mph today. On a flatter course I would just put it in the big gear and push a little over 240 watts and not think about it but this course forces you to make decisions on the numerous rollers. I'd be interested to try a flatter course where power and aero trumps weight a little more but this was still good compared to the field I think.

Had to take all the junk out of my pockets so took a little longer.

This is a really hard run course for someone who weight over 180 pounds. Really just kept it turning over and kept the stride rate high. Ran by feel the entire way and just tried to keep it at an honest hard effort.

First couple miles are fast and let you get your legs under you but then it turns into a bad joke and you turn onto this dirt rode and just start running up a hill into the boonies and from there the hills were plentiful.

Just listened to coach here. Kept the stride rate high and just kept turning over. Fought off some mental negative talk about halfway that told me to walk the aid stations but I never slowed down. My rhythm for the aid stations became grab the water for a quick sip and pour on head, grab a gatorade for a quick gulp and toss it, grab a final water and run with it for a few seconds and take two sips. Worked well for the most part and didn't need to really break stride at all. I was worried if I started walking I might seize up or let the negative voices take over so didn't play that game. Also took down 4 GUs along the way.

I slipped back from 44th to 74th overall and 13th to 21st in my AG on the run.

Run was the personal victory for me today. Answered some questions. It is my limiter. My stand alone half time from last year is 1:35 so this is a pretty good performance on a way harder course. If I ever want to get to Kona or Vegas for championships I need to be running 1:20s for 13.1 stand alone and be about 10-15lbs lighter probably. Probably doable over another year or two. Not sure what my stand alone time is right now but assuming low 1:30s.

Big strides in my 4 70.3 races though here:
2009 Timberman 2:10
2010 Rhode Island 1:54
2010 Timberman 1:49
2011 Rev3 1:41 on a way harder course

Will keep being consistent and getting better on these. There is no quick fix and I think my bike strength directly translates to quite a bit of time savings.

Nothing I think I paced it just right for me.

Drank a muscle milk they handed me and talked to a couple of guys who finished around me and then went over to watch my friends finish.


Fitness and weight. Course penalized weight.


Great race. Tough field of competitors. If you have weakness this course will expose it pretty quickly.