I positioned myself in the first row of my wave that included 2 age groups: M35-39 and mine, M40-44. It was my triathlon number 18 and for the first time, my goggles moved and water started to get into my left eye. I made the mistake to buy a more expensive goggles only 1 week before the race and it seems that in this case the maxim "you get what you pay for" didn't apply.
So here I am fighting for a position in the top 5-7 swimmers at 90% of maximum heart rate with the filling of a hose of water "drilling" my left eye. After 200 yards I decided not to stop to fix the goggle and tried to swim with one eye closed.
Then, almost accidentally, I did another new thing not done in my previous 17 triathlons: drafting! I was having a hard time navigating with only one eye so after swimming side by side with one of the top swimmers in my wave, I gave up and let him pass and stayed right behind him without touching his feet. From that point (about 300 yards) until the last turn (abput 50 yards from the finish) I didn't lose his feet. I said last turn because he didn't see the last buoy and was heading to the shoreline in an angle. I did the last 5o yards without drafting merging with the olympic swimmers. Finally, I learned to appreciate the benefits of drafting.

Stick to the old, cheap, used, ugly, foggy goggles. They work.
Practice drafting technique and pacing strategies for the swimming leg.

Positioned the helmet inverted over the aerobar (no aero-drink) with sunglasses in it. Used 2 rubber bands to hold the left shoe attached to the pedal in horizontal position. I didn't wear socks. I had been training my feet without shocks the last 5/6 weeks to avoid blisters. I had put lubricant from the calves down the heels in both, my legs and the wetsuit legs, so it came out easier than usually. I sat in the ground to get the 2 legs of the wetsuit off my feet.

Finally, I am starting to get the bang! bang! thing of transitions. Still, I can try to run a little faster from the lake to the rack by training barefoot. I can be a little bit faster getting off the wetsuit with more practice.

I tried to hold my horses the first 2/3 miles as much as I could but it was slightly uphill and I almost cross my personal redline of 90% MHR. The next 5/6 miles were hard but I felt comfortable pushing at 91%. I was focusing on pushing uphill and relaxing downhill although the steep differences were barely noticeable. In general, bikers were very well organized and almost everyone was respecting the rules and staying in the right side unless passing. Very professional crowd.
I also have to admit that competing in the sprint distance when there are many bikers doing the olympic motivates you to push harder because they need to save their energy for a second lap, while I was almost done with the bike.
When I saw in my odometer mile 9, I was ready to "suffer" the last 3 miles and started pushing. To my surprise, at mile 10 I started to recognize the road in which I had been warming up in the morning. I realized that something was not right, or was it?. The bike course wasn't 12.43 miles as they said. According to my odometer it was about 11.7. I am still curious about this because I've never averaged more than 22 mph in any triathlon and, according to the organization, my average for this bike leg was 23 mph. I'd love to think I am that fast, but being realistic will help my performance more in the long run, rather than lying to myself.
Please comment with your perceptions of the distance of the bike to confirm.


Stop turning my head to the left to see what's behind me, specially with the aero-helmet on.
Save money to buy a device to measure power in watts. That will be more accurate than the Heart Rate monitor

I took my feet off the shoes in the last 500 yards. Having practiced that helped me to delay that moment until almost until the end of the bike leg. However, I didn't feel confident enough to dismount on the move. I stopped the bike completely before dismounting, a la Chrissie Wellington. The body-glide helped me to put the running shoes on faster. This time I decided not to lose a second and I didn't wear a hat.

Learn to dismount on the move. Wear the bib belt under the wetsuit, so by T2 is there already. Try elastic laces.

Wow! What a way to end the race. I knew I was doing well when I left transition and saw my time. Less than 48 minutes had passed from my wave start and I knew I could do a 5K in less than 22 minutes. I also knew that I could do it in more than 30 minutes. So, in the best case scenario I could've done a total time under 1:10'. Knowing past year performances of other guys in my age group, that would place me top 3, and that was the goal for which I had been trying the previous 9 months. I've never got an agegroup top-3 medal before, but I know I had a chance, small chance, but it was there. I thought that by now, I'd be second because I knew one of the guys who was really fast was racing, lets call him C. After the race, I learned that I was in second position but the first guy wasn't C, but another guy even faster, whom I'd call T.

So those were my thoughts during the first 20 seconds of the running leg. And then, my right calf started cramping. So I go to plan B, which is to negotiate down my expected time for the run, and instead of 7 minutes/mile, I slowed down to about 7:30 or 8 min/mile. And then, after about 3 minutes into the run, someone (let's call him D) passed me with a 43 painted in his calf that meant he was in my age group and I was in trouble. That was tough. I though I was in 3rd position now, after C, and D. But in reality, I was 3rd after T and D.

I was feeling really bad, not able to push harder, I had to watch how D was putting yard after yard between us. Then, when I was about to surrender to the pain, I remembered one of the race reports in this website. Someone had made it to the top 3 because, according to him, he didn't give up. At that moment, that thought seemed to wake me up, and I did all I could, damage control, and focus on my own race. I try to stay as close as possible to D, and despite being unable to reduce the distance, I didn't let it bother me. I was doing my race. There was nothing I could do if the others were faster. I just kept running at my pace.

Then, by mile 1.5, another runner with a number between 40 and 44 in his calf passed me! It was C! He was running strong, and it was obvious that he would overtake D in a matter of seconds. By now my calf cramps were gone, and I felt happy because I thought I was still 3rd, not knowing that T was far away ahead of the 3 of us. As C was catching D, I tried to follow C, and as if C was pulling me, I found myself passing D. At that moment I thought D was giving up, and that motivated me to push harder. I had mixed feelings, was I taking advantage of one of his weak moments, or was I playing a smart strategic move. Regardless of my feelings, I could hear D breathing heavily behind me, so I kept increasing the intensity of my run to my limits until I stop hearing D, and then some. The 1st mile was 7:35, the second 7:20 and the 3rd 7:08.
I crossed the finish line thinking that I could've been second, but I was 3rd, 56 seconds after the second, C, and 7 seconds ahead of the 4th, D.

I've always finished all the other 17 triathlons that I've started, usually in the middle of the pack and I always wondered how would I feel if I ever get to the top 3. I finally made it, and the feelings were positive, exciting, exhilarating, breathtaking, vitalizing, and thrilling; just like the previous 17.



I'd lose 5 or 10 pounds more to see if that makes me faster or not.

Lay down in the grass


My genes. I think I've been training so hard that I gave 98% of what my body can give at my age.