The swim stunk! The start was crowded and I couldn't go very fast. Our wave started and ran into some traffic from slower swimmers completing their 2nd lap for the Olympic race that was also going on. Despite not happening during my warm up, somehow I started getting water in my goggles in the first 100m. I couldn't get it to stop. At one point, I stopped to tread water and tighten my goggle's straps, but water continued to get in. This made it difficult to sight. Also, every time I turned my head to breath to my left, the water got in my eye which caused me to momentarily hold my breath. It was disruptive to my rhythm. Add that to the extra traffic and slow Oly swimmers stopping in the middle of the course and it was a difficult swim. Considering all of the factors, I feel like I actually did a decent job to rank 68/166.

I don't know how to prevent the leaky goggles. But if I had known how slow and congested my swim wave was going to be, I would have moved to the front and gone out first to avoid some of the people that ended up in my way.

My T1 was relatively good. I was a bit surprised to see that it was 2:00 because I felt like I was going to be under that. The transition area was pretty crowded, so that might have affected me a little. But I was T67 in terms of T1 time, so I was in a respectable range.

I can't think of anything that stood out as a problem in T1. I ran in and out, so that wasn't the issue. Other than being in a cramped space, everything felt like it went fairly smoothly.

I pushed pretty hard right from the start. I feel like I passed 20 people in the first 2 miles! When I hit the 6-mile mark, I was averaging 20.3 mph! I knew I had a couple climbs coming up and that pace wouldn't last. A couple times I felt a little nip in my calf like I was going to get a cramp, so I backed off my pace a little or took a moment to try to stretch my calf out while riding. The tough hill on the back side of the course brought my pace back down to earth. Still, I was very happy with my time. My 35th overall rank on the bike made it my best sport. Surprisingly, it was actually my worst sport within my age group! So go figure.

I think I drank just a little too much or maybe took in a little too much salt on the bike. My stomach was slightly upset on the run, but not enough to have really damaged my time. I feel like I maximized my performance on the bike and can't think of anything I could have done better.

T2 was pretty good. No real issues with anything. I felt like I was in and out fairly quickly. I did try to briefly stretch my calves in T2, but the bike rack wasn't stable. I guess that ended up being wasted time, meaning I could have saved myself at least 10 seconds in T2. Not enough to really change anything about my results or ranking.

I had to stretch my calves during the run anyway, so the attempt to stretch in transition was a waste. I should have tested the bike rack to see if it was even going to be possible to stretch using it as support. Still, I was T67 in terms of time in T2, so it was on par with my ranking for T1 and put me in the top 40%.

Despite having to stop to stretch my calves, this was my 2nd best 5K time in a triathlon, so it's hard to argue with the results. At times, I could see groups of people ahead of me and I did a good job of not letting my desire to pass them affect my pace. I kept things pretty steady, knowing that my pace was good enough to catch them without needing to change it. At one point on the run, I did feel like my right quad was a little tight, so I did slow a little on a couple moderate uphill sections. But otherwise, I paced myself very well. The calf cramps never returned and I had a very good run, good enough to be 2nd in my AG!

Nothing. I think this was a well executed run and my performance matched my expectations. Right at the half way point, I passed a man with 53 on his calf, so I knew it was for position. He started the run with a 1:02 advantage. By the time his race was over, I had beat him by 1:30, so I beat his run time my a substantial 2:32. It's hard to argue with having the 2nd best run time in your AG.

Grabbed some watermelon and a banana at the finish and then caught up with my family.


Same as always, just a lack of training. I don't feel like I made any mistakes during the race. If I did, they were very minor. I estimated a time of 1:25:30 early in the year and I came through with 1:26:34, so I was only off my estimate by 1:04. And much of that could be attributed to the issues on the swim.


This is the third time I've done a Vermont Sun race. They are relatively low on their post-race game, but it's still a good race. I like the course and it's very scenic. The only real trouble is that the road around the lake is narrow with almost no shoulder. I was trying to pass someone on the run and a pick-up pulling a trailer nearly ran both of us off the road. As they went by, the passenger hollered out the window "get out of the road"! This isn't the first run-in I've had or witnessed with racers and vehicles on that road.