I did not rush out with the first group, but I also did not wait back too far. I really got in there and got to work. A few dolphin dives and then took off. There was a lot of jostling for position around first buoy. I just ignored it and kept swimming. In fact, there was a lot of body contact through most of the course. Tried drafting a couple times. Did get to the outside rather than the inside, and my time may have suffered a little because of it. Only some uneasiness about 3/4 of the way through. Just persevered and counted strokes. A successful strategy is once I feel I'm pointed in the right direction, keep sighting to a minimum ~every 20 strokes, so I can get into a groove. I did wear my Tempo Trainer at 1:10 s per stroke. Could have gone harder, but at 1:46/100, I'm pretty satisfied with my performance.

Maybe set tempo trainer a little faster. Was a little dissatisfied with my finish. I got up out of the water a little too early, went back to swimming, then tried to bodysurf my way in a little, with little results. I was pretty out of breath when I came out of the water.

The only thing was that I was a little winded after the swim, so I walked about 15 -- 20 feet. There were others doing the same thing. There was a couple hundred meter run up the sand, down a sidewalk, and then taking concrete steps down to transition. Still, all tasks completed swiftly, and was out and on bike pretty quickly. Running mount and the whole thing when really well.

Not much. I estimated 1:30, but really, that was about the very BEST time in the entire race for T1, because of the distance. I ranked 11/38 in my age group and 89/540 overall for T1, so I'm pretty satisfied. Probably could have gotten under 2:00, but it's all good!

This is about what I was expecting, but did not feel a consistent performance. I got passed by a ton of very high-performing speedsters. I passed a bunch of folks, too. Did some leapfrog with another guy on his first lap. Got up to about 26 when passing a group. It was somewhat congested at times. I really thought I'd be cruising around 20-21, which I did some times, but not always. Had 2 shot blocks in T1 (16 g carbs), a GU gel toward the end of the 1st lap, and then another about 10 min out from the dismount. I drank about 30 oz water (est).

More focus on circular rotation movement. Need more training on the tri bike, because I have more in me.

I ranked 25/38 in my age group and 178/540 overall. Not sure. Just think I was a bit tired and burnt from the bike finish. A little slower than I expected (was aiming for about 1 min).

Better at racking bike. I racked handlebars, and it slid over. Had to re-rack it once which lost me some time. My feet were sandy from the transition, so I washed them again, which was not part of the plan and took a little extra time.

I did not drink much on the run. A little, but mostly poured it on myself to cool off. Wanted to start out at a moderate pace around 8:15/mile and negative split after that each mile, so I ended up somewhere around/under 8:00/mile. Instead, 1st mile was too slow, and I was nervous about picking up the pace too much. I did have a few self-doubts, but then just pushed them out of my mind. Encouraged another 40-something who was walking about 1/2 way through the run. He picked it up and was out in front of me, which I bristled at! I kept him in my sights, and picked up my pace the last mile. With about 1/4 mile left to go, I pushed the pace and passed him and 2 other 40's and then sprinted across the finish. That was the most triumphant feeling -- making that choice and going all-out to improve my position.

Faster starting pace. More bricks. Really, good performance given my knee issues.

Stretching. Two bottles water and some oranges.


Time off for injury rehab. New to bike. Only riding it since April and then only fit properly with right saddle for about a month and a half.


Well-organized and marked. Great volunteers and lots of water stations. They even announced names as runners were finishing, which was really cool. Also, got a chance to hang with a lot of club members and got to meet some nice people. Would definitely do it again next year.

Post-race food offering sucked. Little nibbles/bites. Nothing really to replenish.