Interesting delay to the start - some guy in the 1st wave dislocated his shoulder (or whatever it is you do that can then be popped back into place) just before the start! So they made an announcement looking for someone to pop it back into place! Don't you know two people came up, and a few minutes later he was good to go!

Would be 8 out of 16 for 40-44

So they went off, then it was my turn. I was in the middle of the group, but I was surprised that I had plenty of space in front of me, so I moved up a little closer to the front. Why not!

No problems at the start, but within 100m I was saying to myself, "I'm really not enjoying this." and "I can't believe I'm doing another one in 3 weeks, and then an Olympic!" Well those negative thoughts went away when I realized I was actually doing okay! :)

A couple times I felt both feet get grabbed at the same time. I couldn't figure that out until later in the swim I realized that was from breastrokers.

Just before the 1st turn some women from the wave behind me were starting to go by. I was annoyed at first, but then I thought, that's okay, I've already been passing guys from the 1st wave.

After the 2nd turn, as I was heading back, I switched sides to breathe so that I wasn't looking into the sun. Well before long I saw that I was heading off course and further away from the line. I adjusted, but was still going off course. I never realized before that when I breathe on my right side, I swim towards the right. So that's something to work on.

I wasn't real confident to go bilateral, so I switched back to the left and by about halfway back I was in tight with the markers. I also then said to myself that I have every right as anyone else to take the inside line!

I also started to relax on the way back and lengthen my stroke and push more with my hand just before it came back out of the water. I was feeling really good now, my legs were relaxed, and I was passing guys who were flailing away!

Practice more straight line swimming - maybe by closing my eyes in the pool? Make sure I get going on a good technique earlier in the swim, instead of gradually remembering what I'm doing!

There was an uphill run coming out of the lake and into T1. On Saturday I thought it would be a challenge, but didn't really notice it during the race - Hill training in Pittsburgh does work!

No trouble at first, but then almost fell over getting my 2nd sock on! Then I had trouble getting my jersey on. It was stuck on my back, and then I realized that the only times I had put it on before was when I was dry. Oops! Eventually got it on, took a sip of gatorade and away I went.

This was one of the slowest T1 times for the entire field!

Practice getting dressed! Sprint faster through it.

This was where I could still make up some time. It took about 4 miles before my legs felt warmed up. They still were cold and tight before that.

After about 1/2 mile I checked my speed on my watch but only saw all 0's on the timer! I forgot that I could still check my pace anyway, but instead hit Start. Then a few minutes later I checked my pace again, and this time it said 2.53 min/mile! What?! I can't believe I left it on Run after Saturday's training! So I stopped it, and reset it to bike, and started it going again. I then got my speed after that, but it wasn't until the 5 mile marker that I was able to use it to judge my distance.

Didn't have problems at all with the rolling hills, but I wasn't great around the corners. I was passing a lot of guys, but I couldn't believe that they were in front of me in the first place. Then I realized that most of them were from the Duathlon, so their 1st run must have been shorter than my swim.

Saw a bad wreck around the 2 mile point. Two guys must have come together on a straight section. They were still lying on the ground, but there were four others already standing there helping with one on his cell phone.

Pretty soon some women on their tri bikes were passing me, but I was also passing a good number of people doing the triathlon on their road bikes. I was pretty pleased since I was on a mountain bike.

I thanked all the police at the turns, and at one of them, said "Nice Car!" to a guy in his late 60's Convertible Camaro! I'm sure he was thinking shut up and get the hell out of my way! :)

At the top of a hill around 9 miles, a woman passed me and just as she sat back down, she said, "You made that look easy". I said, "Thanks, but your passing me!" She was puffing though, and I had to ease off to not pass her back. I figured she was going to take off, so there was no point. She did eventually, but I decided to keep pace about 30 feet back.

I laughed and said, "I just found my Pace Booty!" Thanks Dan! :)

This actually really helped because there was no doubt I was now going faster and gave me a focus. After a couple miles, I thought, I can't believe I'm in top gear, it's going so easy. Well I had a good reason to think that - I looked down and I was still in the middle ring! Good laugh at that. Popped into big ring, and dropped it down a notch, and just like that I was on her tail again. Eased off again since I was only a few miles from the finish and I felt like it was helping having her to focus on.

Thinking back on the last 5 miles and following her, I realize that I could have easily had this faster pace through the whole ride. It wasn't that I was slow before it, but if she was able to catch me, then I didn't have any problem keeping up, I think that tells me I was too slow before that - definitely learned something there!

Just before the turns going into transition, she went by this duathlon guy who was all over the place. I got caught behind him and actually got annoyed. I did eventurally get by him by going around on the outside, but he held me up so bad that when I got to the last 200 yd straight away before the transition, she was already through there. I didn't care so much about the time, but just that I didn't really know what he was doing and if I was going to run into the back of him.

Exact same time as the top mountain biker! Would be 9/16 for 40-44. I guess that's not bad for a mountain bike!

Work more on cornering. Didn't feel confident at all on them. Also figure out how to get my legs warmed up quicker coming out of the swim.

Get going on a faster pace sooner.

No problem at T2, but I did feel like I was slow getting off the bike at the dismount line. Later on, I watched the Olympic guys dismounting to learn how they do it.

Quickly changed shoes and took another swig of Gatorade.

Another good thing I did in the morning was practice running up to my rack. Pretty handy that there was a funny chalk drawing on the pavement just before my rack!

Practice dismount, run faster.

I've found that when I do bricks during training, my running always starts too fast. Sure enough, I felt too fast again, and I was concerned I would crash and burn if I didn't slow down. So within a couple hundred yards I check my pace, and sure enough, there's the timer still going for the bike! Damn! Stopped it, reset to run, and started it again.

Well I was going too fast for me. I was around 6:45 to 7:00/mile which would mean I would be walking before I knew it! So I tried slowing down, but then I made a bad mental error.

I kept trying to slow down while going down that long hill. I was so concerned about my pace, that I forgot my training. Before long my right shin started to hurt, which is odd. I then realized that was because I was trying to slow down going down a hill - what a moron! I attacked about the last 2 feet of all that was left of the hill and decided to let my pace take care of itself. Before long the shin pain was gone.

As soon as I passed the turn around a phrase popped into my head - "I am a Triathlete!" That gave me so much confidence, which I would need for the uphill return! So I'll say it again, Thanks Gina! :)

After about 2 miles, I stayed on the back of another guy at just over 8:00/mile. I don't know if I should have done that or not, but it felt right at the time. It gave me another focal point, and sure enough, by the time I got to the top of the long hill, I didn't even realize I went up it! :)

I then saw the most comical thing of the day! As all the runners were on the bike path going in both directions, there were two older ladies on their old bikes, complete with flower baskets on the front, trying to navigate between us! They had absolute horror on their faces trying to not hit anyone and not fall over at the same time!

About a 1/4 mile before the finish, some guy went cruising on by and yelled at about 4-5 of us who were now bunched up to pick it up, we're almost done! Great motivation - we all took off!

Time would have been 5/16 for 40-44. Took 45 secs off my previous fastest 5k time.

Figure out what pace I should be doing off the bike. I always go faster after riding, but I need to quickly get to a pace that won't kill me. Also, learn to drink out of cups better. I forgot to fold it into a spout, and barely got any kind of drink.

Almost right away found out I was 2nd for Mountain Bikes! So grabbed some water and some food and walked around. Found the guy who won the MTB and congratulated him.

It was nice and sunny, so it felt good as I was drying off.


Lack of training the last two weeks before the race probably didn't help! Can't complain though.


Surprised that there weren't any water stations on the bike course. Maybe that's normal, but after volunteering last month and working at a bike water station, I thought that was that norm.

Police did a great job with traffic control. No issues at all!

Sorry that I didn't run into any other BTer's. Warmed up with a t-shirt covering my BT jersey, so that probably didn't help!

Also should note that before the race saw two other guys in their early 20's racking up their mountain bikes. I just thought that I would have no chance against them. Well don't you know, after the swim, both of their bikes were still there when I got to T1, and I only saw one of them come to T1 because I was fiddling around with my jersey so long. The guy who beat me was a 45 year old foagie, so you just never know do you?? I learned to not doubt your own abilities, and just run your own race! :)