Beach start for this race which was something new for me not to mention the two loops. I made my way to the front and took off. About 20 yards into the swim, my Garmin 310XT came loose from my wrist. I tried to grab it when it came loose and missed. I tried to kick it and spin around to grab it without luck. When I looked behind me, there were a whole lot of people swimming at me so this was a lost cause. Lost a little focus at this point and my focus wasn't real good until the turnaround to head back to the beach. There was alot of shots to the head and people swimming on my legs on the first lap. One of the worst open water swim experiences to date. I caught a bunch of people in the previous wave at the turnaround. When I exited the water and ran down the beach for the second lap, things had thinned out a little bit. The second lap was much better from a body contact standpoint. The Hydrilla was churned up and my hands and arms were tangled in the stuff close to the shoreline.

Should have kept a better line on the first lap and make sure my watch was secure. It was two years old and I have replaced the band twice. It may have just been time to get a new one.

Very good T1 for me. I was in and out fast. The beach area cut up my feet a little bit. I considered going with socks for this race but I didn't feel I had that luxury. I am doing the Texas Tri Series and some of my competition was moving quickly.

Nothing. Very good.

The wind was fairly calm for the first loop. Seemed like the roads had been worked on since the last race here earlier in the summer. Still some bad spots but much improved. I had a good first lap. The wind really picked up for the second lap. I have not been riding much over the past few weeks. I have been on vacation and had some work related stuff that kept me off the bike. I faded a little bit going south into the wind. I was about a mile an hour off the fastest guys in my grouip. I wasn't too disappointed. The second lap had lots of traffic to deal with. The sprint race entered the course on our second lap so there was a lot of congestion.

Not much I could do for this race. Keep on training.

My flying one legged dismount was awesome. You would have thought I knew what I was doing. I was fast to the rack. I stared at those socks and bypassed them for the run. I had already started to get blisters on the bike from the spots on my feet irritated on the beach. This wasn't going to be pretty but I had to get moving.

Very happy with my time.

It was getting hot at the time the run began. I'm not entirely sure why they chose to start this race at 8am. The sun was up at 6:30 and it would have been much better to get an earlier start. I grabbed my wife's cowboy hat and traded my visor with her. I was hoping to get more of the sun off me. I tried to keep an attainable fast pace for the first lap. At every aid station, I poured water all over me in an effort to cool my core temperature and drank a cup of Gatorade. No watch so I have no idea on spacing. Second lap I tried to push the pace through mile 4 and evaluate where I was. Walked the aid station with the same tactics. It was getting hot enough that I could't stay cool more than about a quarter mile. At mile 5, I ran through the aid station, splashed cold water on myself and kept moving. At 5.5 miles my body tried to quit and I walked about 20 feet before running in the rest of the way. I set a 10k PR for myself on the run. The course is fairly flat but there is no shade and nowhere to hide from the sun. My feet were cut up from the beach and the little granite rocks got in my shoes and created blisters on my feet. Not great.

If I thought there was enough time, I would have worn socks.

Went to the ice water kiddy pools in the medical area. My core temperature came down and it felt great. My quads and calves were cramping. One of the people in the medical area worked on my cramped muscles. Whatever she did hurt like hell at the time but I didn't have any problems later so thanks to whoever helped me.


Getting sidetracked on the first lap of the swim and being in better condition for the bike leg.


Good race. The course was really congested with intermediate and sprint using the same courses. I don't know if the venue can handle that much traffic.