Last year I swam around 39 mins (poor swim) and definitely did much better this year. I really could have saved time if I could swim straight or at least sight better. Making progress but I think the only thing that is going to help me is more OWS time.

Sight better

Wetsuit off, garmin on, glasses on, helmet on, grab bike and out of transition. I don’t run well with wet, bare feet and lost a lot of time due to that.

Up a short hill and I am off. Get my feet in my shoes and watch my speed. But the course has changed a little and I swear I hear a cop say to the light and left. Well he said (or meant to say) to the light and go straight. I lose a little time as I make a left and there is a gate. Swing around and luckily someone passes me and I follow him. A couple of riders pass me but I get up to speed, pick a rabbit to follow (actually two) and crank it up. By mile three we are avg 20-21 mph, the two ahead of me keep swapping lead and are a bit too close for drafting comfort. We slowly start to pass people and I keep making sure not to draft. Hit one turn around and end up passing one of my rabbits. She passes me a few minutes later but I pass her again and she drops off. I am down to one rabbit when a lady on an all pink tri bike (Planet X I think) with pink tires flies by. She passes my rabbit but slows down; I am back to two rabbits. I spend a lot of time passing my rabbits then they pass me. Roads are in great shape and having a great ride. Down a gel just to keep going. Another turn around and we catch up to a very attractive female rider which distracts me for a minute until I notice my rabbits are getting away. I gun it and chase them down. We have less than 10 miles left and they decide push the pace. At one point I am doing 23 mph and slowly catching up. I catch them then they accelerate away, miles 21 and 22 show me averaging 22 MPH. I finally decide I need my legs for the run and let them go. Come to the end, down a hill and bike dismount is at the base of the hill (which to me is not a good idea and my only real complaint about the race) but I do a flying dismount and run in.

Rack bike, helmet off, socks shoes on, grab my race number and head off.

I need to learn to run sockless, can do it for 2-3 miles but haven’t tried it for a 10k.

Out of the shoot and up the hill. My typical running pattern for a 10k is a start slow and build speed. After a few hundred feet I see a porto and make a quick stop. Hit the road and start passing people but am getting a chafing pain on the back of my foot. Stop and find a rock in my sock, how the heck did that get there? Head off again and slowly pass folks. Occasionally I get passed by some but I passed more than passed me. One mile mark I take a gel and some water, the last of either for the rest of the race. According my Garmin the mile markers are off by .17 miles. At about the 2 mile mark I pass a guy on the return leg with his phone blasting music. Really wanted to say something but decided to let it go. Hit the 3 mile mark and about 20 feet passed that is the turn around which is pretty much dead on with what my Garmin was showing. Head back and start catching up to a woman who is passing the phone music guy. Evidently she says something to him and he responds with “well I don’t have any earphones on and I am using the phone as a GPS”. About that time I pass him and give him the “that’s a lame excuse” look and he promptly turns off the music. I pass the lady and keep going. I am picking up steam but on the last mile get passed by one guy (not in my AG). The return is down a hill and my knee does not like that at all and I hobble down it. Get to the bottom and sprint in.

For me this was a good 10k, not my fastest but a good one and I am very happy with the results. That said my overall ranking shows that I really need to get faster here. In fact, ranking wise, I did better in the swim than on the run. I guess I never really thought of a 55 min 10k as being slow but evidently it is.

Drank a lot of fluids, ate some jambalaya, and started packing up. As mentioned earlier there was a snafu on the bike and they were trying to figure out what to do about it. At that point I was 22nd male and 3rd in my AG so I decided to wait a little while to see what they did. After I heard they would figure out a way to merge the other group back in I headed out.