So. I am going to send an email to sun and find out why i was slotted in the elite wave. I should have checked my packet way before then, but .....

I get to the rest of my wave, and i have a quick chat, and i realize it's mostly made up of the guys that are near me in transition. They were all saying the same thing as me, why is my number so low. One guy even said it was his first triathlon So i figured i might have a good day and possibly podium.

As the gun went off i started going fast and i realized i wasn't catching up to the main group and the others around me were right with me. I had a little panic attack and felt my heart racing and i couldn't breathe. Not a pleasant feeling in the middle of the ocean(it felt) and with 15 other people swimming right near you. I stopped swimming, did some quick breathing and some breast strokes, calmed down and just concentrated on my race, not anyone else's.

After that I settled down and had a good swim, I had an issue sighting in the first 100 yards or so, I went off course and had to go sideways to still make the buoy. I was right next to another guy in my wave, and I thought we were going straight. I corrected and sighted more and did very well the rest of the swim. I didn't stop and got out of the water feeling like I could have pushed harder.

I ran out of the water and pulled the zipper down on my wetsuit, and ran around and into transition.

No matter what happens prior to start, don't let it get you stuck. I was way too focused on why I was slotted as an elite, than you know actually racing as a triathlete.

OH, and do not look forward while swimming. I'll explain in a bit.

Ran into transition and I left my swim cap on and goggles on top of my head, until I got to my spot. I had forgotten to take them off. First race of the year there are usually these little things that pop up. My wetsuit got stuck on my heels and took me a bit longer to get off. I also was futzing around with my watch. i had forgotten to start multisport mode and yet somehow i still had a swim time. So i probably lost about 45 seconds sorting out that mess and putting it on my bike.

I put my shoes on, sunglasses, and helmet and started running out of transition with my bike. my shoe strap wasn't on tight and so I couldn't run as fast as I wanted to, but i fixed that once i got on the bike.


again, first race of the year. for whatever reason, i always forget how my watch that i've had for 2 years now actually works. I forget to start multisport first and then start the timer.

Make sure strap is on a bit tighter before I grab my bike, but that can be fixed on the bike, so if it doesn't happen every time, that's ok.

Was running and watched the guy in front of me run up to the mount line and stop, then get on bike. I ran up crossed the mount line, hopped on the bike and got clipped in without an issue. Usually my wife is there to watch me fumble around and have issues, whenever she isn't, I have no problems. I tightened my shoe strap and got up to speed and into aero positiona and uh oh.

Up to speed and into the aero bars and I'm down for about 30 seconds and i feel pain in my neck. I got my bike fit again about 2 months ago, I felt pain in my neck late in races. I thought it was due to my position and lack of riding. I rode more and didn't really have neck pain. Until today.

I couldn't stay in aero for more than a minute before my neck got tired and hurt. I knew it wasn't the bike anymore. it was the way i swam. I look forward way more than i realized. I had been focusing on it the last months in the pool. But first race, wetsuit, i'm looking way forward and it is hurting my neck before i even get in the pool.

Some nasty crosswinds and my neck had me very slow for the beginning miles. i averaged about 17.4 mph for the first five miles. On the way back out to the first turn around, I felt ok, but there was a nasty head wind. I was slow and it was tough to stay in aero. I pushed a bit with the wind behind me, and felt pretty good. Starting my second loop, I felt better in aero and my neck hurt a lot less. I still couldn't stay in aero for more than 5 minutes without having to sit up for a few seconds. But it felt better.

I also didn't drink that much, which I didn't realize till I got home. I thought I drank more. I can't quite tell with the Speedfill.


Need to look down while swimming. do not look forward. Even with my limited training, i felt good off the bike, minus the neck. COuld have gone faster especially the first 5 miles, this is where my race was lost. Next 5 miles I felt much faster and passed others.

fairly uneventful.

hopped off bike and ran to transition. racked it with no issues. put on running sneakers, grabbed my garmin, grabbed my run belt and hat. dropped my helmet.

glad i put the run belt through the hat. one thing to grab instead of two. took me a bit to put the belt and hat on through transition, but moving forward is always a good thing.

nothing.

got out of my shoes and did my usual flying dismount. i ran into transition, racked my bike, grabbed my garmin, put on shoes and grabbed my run belt and hat. I had put my belt through my hat so i only had to grab one thing. It worked, but it took a bit to put on. but I had it all on before i left transition, so i think it was worth it.

Felt good out of transition, and looked at my watch. 8:15. Wow, this was fast and i was getting passed. This was my "Push"pace for later in the race. I decided to see what happened if I kept this pace. I slowed down a bit at different sections. It also got blazing hot on the run. I grabbed a water and sipped it at the run turnaround. Next aid station I grabbed two, one to drink and the other for my head.

I got passed a lot, and can't remember if I passed more than 3 runners. I again didn't have an extra gear to push in the second half of the race, to either stay with runners (cute girl who passed me) or push harder to catch runners that were ahead of me.

I finished and was exhausted, got my medal and some water and sat by the ice baths and cooled down.


not much, drinking more on the bike would have helped, but you can't feed undertraining. Lack of training, run training specically the last month hurt my speed.

Have another race this weekend, that is more or less just to race.

Will focus on run speed in the coming weeks before Cranberry.

My Garmin had me at a 8:39 pace for the whole run so i'm going with that!

plopped myself under a tent and put my feet in the ice baths. sipping water. got a banana and some orange slices.

walked around and then chatted with friends and teammates.


lack of training. business travel, illness(es) in the months leading up to the race hurt my training. I also hadn't been running nearly as much as in the past.


Good race. Nice having a bike course closed to traffic. only wish the run had some more shade, it gets very hot on the run.

I've raced a lot of Sun events, and this is the first time I've ever had an issue with registration.