As soon as I got moving, my right goggle started filling up. After swimming two lengths, I decided to stop for a second to empty it and make sure it was set. I've swam faster than this in training, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't killing myself before the bike.

Even though the pace was moderate (1:30/100yds), I felt an almost out of control feeling. My breathing was more rapid. Maybe it was partially race nerves, but I think that I may should have warmed up more too.

A little slow getting going on the bike, but other than that, it was solid. Fastest T1 in my age group, so I'll take it.

Practice getting into my shoes more while on the bike

This race did a great job at pointing out a glaring weakness: I suck at cornering. I had to drop my speed dramatically to make it through most of the turns:

http://www.strava.com/activities/120942653/analysis

Anytime I wasn't facing a turn, I was heading well into the 24mph range. Fortunately, this isn't a fitness issue as much as a skill issue. I just need to practice.

Practice cornering more. My next race has a bit of turning as well, and I need to be ready. I probably could have pushed the bike harder, but the turns slowed down my attempts to hammer.

I had the 5th fastest T2 in my age group and was very average compared to the upper end of the field. I need to work on this some more evidently, as it appears I was giving the competition ~10-15 seconds here.

Practice!

The moment I've been training for! I knew that this is where my rival would start getting time back, so I needed to minimize the damage.

I headed out with a mindset of getting to pace quickly. My first mile was 6:35, which was where I was content for this race. My next two miles slowed slightly at 6:41 and 6:44. There's definitely a difference between running an open 5k and running one off the bike.

This did however beat all of my run times from last year, including one of my sprints of the same distance, so progress is progress.

http://www.strava.com/activities/120943363/overview

I could have pushed harder in retrospect, but I need to learn how to let myself hurt more. I only lost 58 seconds in my age group here, and I outran the guy who won my age group.

I warmed down by eating Papa John's and waited for awards. It felt good to accomplish all the objectives I had for the race. The guy that won my age group swam the 400M in 5:17, which is crazy! He also outbiked me by a minute, which is probably more from better cornering skill than better engine.

What I found interesting is that my run was actually the strongest point of my race. In a less technical bike course, my bike would probably be a bit higher my run, but they're close, which is a good place to be.

My swim seems to be the lowest hanging fruit in terms of overall time. Good thing I'm in all those swim challenges.


Swim speed in general, cornering skills on the bike, and lack of courage on the run.

Despite these weaknesses, I am happy with my race. I'm definitely a lot better off than I was last year at this time.