This would normally be considered a bad result for me but I've been fighting a bad shoulder for most of August and Sept so I haven't been to the pool much and the intensity has been pretty low.

I pretty much swam the entire time on my own. There were 2 or 3 guys that went hard off the start and normally I would probably have gone with them but I wasn't interested in that. I just went a good steady pace and tried to avoid any traffic from the previous waves.

I got a face full of seaweed several times but never really had any contact or interference from anyone.

Given my current swim training, nothing. It would have been nice to do a 28-29 min swim but it wasn't in the cards for this race.

Pretty straight forward. There was a bit of a lengthy run from the swim exit to T1. I grabbed a cup of water on the way to rinse the salt water out of my mouth.

On the way I ran by Tab and she yelled "Socks!" to remind me to take them out of my pockets. As soon as I did I knew they hadn't stayed dry - completely soaked. I wrung them out as I ran and when I go the rack I hung them up hoping they would dry while I was out.

Not much

AP 214w / NP 217w VI 1.01
http://tpks.ws/jH3l

I had a good mount and quickly got up to speed and put my feet in my shoes.

Power targets for the race were to spend the first 10-15 mins <200w and then go up to the 220-230w range. I had the option to increase a bit to 225-235w after the turnaround if things were going well and then back down a bit for the last 10-15 mins before T2. A little harder into the wind, a little less with the wind.

I took laps every 15 minutes or so and the numbers came out as 209, (staying under 200 would have been really tough), 226, 223, 228, 214 (included the turnaround and immediately into an aid station - was up around 225 up to that point), 218, 214, 212, 204. The return leg was more downwind so I eased off a little bit. I also ran into a lot more traffic and had to soft pedal/coast in order to safely pass quite a few times. For most of the return leg I was also leap frogging back and forth with 3 other guys. The 4 of us seemed to be riding clean as far as I could tell. I did have a few people drafting off of me but never for very long (at least not that I knew of).

As we got back into the city the wind was picking up quite a bit and the turns and tight roadways caused me to hold up a bit as well. I took my feet out of my shoes with about 2k to go as I had a clear stretch of road and it seemed like a good time to do so.



Nothing, I felt strong, hit the power targets when I could and got off the bike feeling fresh.

I felt slightly disorganized for this but it was ok I guess. My socks had mostly dried thank goodness. Socks and run shoes on, glasses and watch on and the rest of my stuff I just grabbed and ran out with and put it on as I ran.

I could probably have saved 15-20s by being a bit more organized.

I came out of transition feeling great. My legs weren't tired and I was relaxed. I had to ease off the first 2k to keep my pace on target. Splits for the first 4k were 4:55, 4:53, 5:09 (up the bridge), 4:45 (down the bridge). At this point we ran back along side the bridge and this is where I started getting really hot. I had been taking in lots of water to this point but hadn't been able to get any ice yet. I eased off on the pace as I didn't want to hit the effort too high this early in the game. I had tried some of my gel mixture in my fuel belt a few times but it was tasting gross so I switched to coke from the aid stations.

The 2nd time up the bridge was where I really started to struggle. I had a couple of short walk breaks up it. Still felt good on the back side of it and at the next aid station I finally got a big cup of ice. That went down the front of the trisuit and I must say I've never been so happy to shrivel up like a prune in my life! :) For the rest of the first loop I was feeling better. I was running around 5:00/km or a bit under it and walking through the aid station to get lots of water into me. I saw Tab a couple of times which was great - she's the best supporter / sherpa / cheerleader. I couldn't do it without her!

The second loop started out ok until the bridge again but I walked some more up that. I had a rough stretch for KMs 15-17 going 5:39, 5:51 and 6:07. That brought me to the top of the bridge for the last time and I tried to just finish it off strong from there. The next KM was 4:51 down the bridge but once I got into the part of the course through the city and it was hot out of the wind I faded again. I finished it off as well as I could but there wasn't a lot I could do at this point but cruise it in.

I dunno. I guess prepare for the heat better but I'm not sure how to do that given the climate we have at home - especially this time of year.

Talked with Tab and Chris for a bit and then Tab and I tried to find the food tent. It was way on the other side of transition and no one really seemed to know where it was - weird.


Heat