Start was knee deep in the water off the beach. After the last couple of races, I decided to stand towards the front of the wave for a change and let people pass me.
Gun sounded and I took off. I felt really good at first, but about half-way to the first turn buoy, I was having trouble with my breathing. I started to worry, but then decided that I was pushing my pace too hard (this would later be backed up when I looked at my Garmin after the race). I made a quick pause and then started back up with an easier stroke. That was the problem. From there, I had no further issues during the swim. After making the second turn, I had trouble finding the third buoy for siting, so I seemed to drift a little bit, but once I found the marker, I was able to course correct and get in-line. I hit the third turn heading into the harbor and noticed several of the pink caps. Those were the collegiate athletes that started 4 minutes before my wave!
After that, I swam as close to the boat launch as I could and then ran into transition.

Not started off so hard. That nearly wrecked my race.
Otherwise, this was the best swim I've had all season.

Not much to say here, I was as quick as could be through transition. One thing I did not like was the long run up the hill to the bike mount

nothing

The hills made this a hard course to get into a rhythm. I hit downhill speeds as high as 36mph, vs. some of the uphills where I dropped as low as 10mph. I had a pretty good pace going overall, but began to worry somewhere between mile 10-12 because my quads were burning. I was afraid that I'd burn out and have nothing left for the run. However, the course changes around mile 13 and you have much more downhill time cruising in. This allowed my legs to recover and also to have a decent finish time.
Also, with about 4 miles to go, two other guys from my age group caught up to me on the bike! I had a flash back to the High Point Tri a month ago where I fell out of contention because they passed me on the bike and I couldn't catch them on the run. I really dug down to push and do my best to hang with them. Sadly, they both finished about a minute in front of me on the bike.

I just need to keep training on the bike. This has been the one leg that I've been able to consistently improve over time.

So this would be my complaint, and it actually is more reflective of my bike time than my T2 time. The bike dismount was at the top of the parking lot hill, and then you had to run down and all the way around transition to the swim in to enter transition. Given the design of the parking lot, I understand the safety concerns for dismounting at the top of the hill, I just think that maybe the timing mat for the bike could have been placed higher or something. Minor gripes....

For the actual transition, I moved through changing shoes as quickly as possible. Got a slight delay reaching for my run belt and almost losing my balance while trying to put on my second shoe.

Nothing, this was a mostly good, clean transition

Given my recent run history, I expected to stay firmly in third place for this race. I decided to take it easy and just see what my body could do. Surprisingly, after the first half-mile (also about the time the first climb ended), I started to feel better so decided to kick up the pace just a little. Then I saw both of the other guys in my age group in front of me! I was able to catch and pass the first guy right at the Mile 1 marker. Everything feeling good, hit the water stop to throw some over my head and kept pushing. I could see that I was getting closer to the second guy, and right at the turn around, I actually caught him! At that point, I did a quick mental check and realized everything was feeling pretty good. I decided to start pushing my pace and just see what I could do, and if I could hold off the two guys that were now chasing me!
I came over the final hill and knew that the last .75 were all downhill, so I just continued to creep up my pace. I made the final turn and was able to make the final stretch as a good fast finish!

Nothing. This was the best run I've had all season

So I went into this race with a few different goals:
1. Finish under 2 hours
2. Place in my age group
3. Don't fall apart on the run

So I am happy to report that I hit all three of the original goals! Even outdid the goals by finishing way under 2:00 and not just placing, but winning my age group! Once I finished and saw my time, I started to wish that I could have done it under 1:45, but that can be the goal for 2018. :-)
Winning my age group was even sweeter because this was the same group of guys that I raced in High Point, and they both beat my butt at that race.



Just my own physical limitations


This was a really good local race. Trivium does a great job of having great events that are well organized and always fun.
The award for placing was unique (a nice metal tumbler), but I can't help but wish that they would have added markings on them to denote how you placed. Since they were only for age group winners, and they were already special made with the race logo on them, I'm not sure that it would have been that much more to add a line stating "1st Place, 2nd Place, 3rd Place".
Again, minor complaint for a good overall race.
Also, don't expect much from the food tent when you're done. I had a banana, water and diet pepsi. A slice of pizza or a bagel would have been nice, but it's hard to ask too much from a local race.