This was the worst swim I have had. The start was congested and there was a lot of bumping. Once things spread out i was doing OK. My swimming was easy and i felt I could go forever. After the second turn and heading back to the beach, things kind of fell apart. The Sun was just off the horizon and right in line with where we were headed. I could not see the buoys at all and had to stop and loo around numerous times to shield my eyes and get my bearings. I had to change course several times to make sure i was rounding all the buoys. For the last half of the swim, I got numerous cramps in my right foot and a coupe whoppers in my right calf. This also required me stopping to pull the cramp out. I think most of the people in front of me that i could see int he distance were rounding any of the buoys. In hind sight, I'm not sure we had to round the buoys on the way back in, although I'm pretty sure most of the people in front of me did not. there were only 7 out of 73 people that broke 40 minutes for the swim.

I need a better plan for sighting and would move to the side at the start. I was in the thick of things and this slowed me down. I need to figure out what to do about the cramping as well. I should have drank more water 30 minutes prior to the start.

There was a long run from the beach to transition. I managed to put my heel down on a large stone under the mat running from the beach. I was a bit slow getting my shoes and helmet on.

I should practice my transitions more.

This was my best bike I think of all the tris I have done. I was shooting for 75-85% ftp and was right on the nose with 200W average and 204W normalized power (ftp 250). I kept up with drinking and taking nutrition every 10 minutes or so, have 4-5 swallows of water along with 2 Stinger chews. The starting temperature on the bike was 70°F. Being in the first swim wave, the road was pretty much clear for the 1st lap. The second lap was VERY congested. There were a lot of weaving slow riders and there were some close calls and one crash that I saw. The riders were so closely spaced there was no way to keep 6 bike length spacing, but I did my best to follow the rules. I was getting the urge to pee with about 45 minutes to go, but figured I would take care of that in transition as there were porta-potties and I new transition would be pretty much clear. I had a salt capsule at around 1:45.

Just work to bring my FTP up.

I took a pee upon entering transition. It was a bit darker that I would have lighted, but not dark amber. I was worried about hydration for the run. My hamstrings were very tight and I couldn't move too fast at first. I struggled getting my water belt on (it doesn't work too well upside-down) and my shoes on.

Put belt on right-side up.

My goal was to drink 4-5 oz of liquid every mile and keep a pace that would allow me to drink sufficiently and absorb the liquid. I had 4 10 oz bottles, 2 with 50/50 Gatorade Endurance and 2 with water. I was keeping a reasonably good pace for the 1st half - faster than I was planning on, but not by too much. I was keeping up with my drinking plan and was glad I had my bottles to I could gauge how much I was drinking. As i got to the turn around, my quads were starting to get pretty sore and my stomach was getting a little bit queasy, but not as bad as previous races. I slowed down and grabbed more water and Gatorade from an aid station and mixed it ~50/50 and slowed way down to drinking. The last 3 miles seemed to go on forever but my stomach stayed OK but my legs were very sore. My knees weren't too bad, which was one positive thing. All but 3 miles were under 9 minute pace, which I was happy about.

Injuries earlier in the year really impacted my run training. I think I could do better with more consistent training.

I didn't do much. My legs were cramping up and my stomach was very queasy. I got food at the food tent and had 2 bottles of water and a Coke with what I ate. I was pretty much forcing myself to eat and drink because of my stomach, but I knew I needed to refuel and get more liquid into me.
On the drive home I stopped at a rest stop and slept for about 20 minutes and then got some coffee for the drive home. I could barely keep my eyes open before the nap. I probably should have done this at the race site before leaving, but I wanted to beat the traffic leaving the race site.


Run and swim fitness and continued (albeit improved) issues with hydration. Since I'm now 58 and this was my PR for the HIM distance (21.3mph for the bike vs. previous best of 19.7mph) I can't complain.


This was a very well run race.