I lined up at the front and started out faster than I normally do and kept a fairly steady pace the whole swim. Last year my goal was to complete the swim without freaking out in the OW; I'd take the swim fairly easy, staying with a 3-2-2-3-2-2 breathing pattern, to keep the pace and breathing well under control. This year my goal is to actually race on swim, not just complete it. So I took it out fast and tried to swim fast throughout. I thought I'd be able to keep the old breathing pattern but I ended up breathing every stroke, which was fine since I knew that meant I was working harder than normal.

I was surprised by how many people started out fast. For a moment when I was a bit short of breath I had this "why the hell am I doing triathlons" felling, but fortunately it went away as my breathing became more controlled. I tried drafting for a bit, but eventually found myself without any feet. On occasion I'd find some feet new that seemed appropriate, but it never lasted long.

FWIW, I measured the swim at about 540 meters, not the published 500 meters.




I was first in my AG, but got beat by 4 or 5 of the M40-44 in my wave. They beat me from about 7 to 60 seconds. I need to figure out how to draft off these guys. If I every figure it out I should be able to keep up with the faster swimmers.

For the most part good. My 1:45 was 5th of 30 in my AG. The number one guy finished 20 seconds ahead of me, so I obviously have plenty of room for improvement.

Check my shoe straps when setting up transition. When I tried to get my feet in the shoes while riding, I found that the straps were velcroed closed and I couldn't get my feet in! I lost a good few seconds getting things right while riding....

This ride felt good. Fast on the way out, a bit slower on the way back due to wind. I got passed immediately by a few of the faster bikers in my AG. I passed a bunch of the slower riders from the previous swim waves.

My HRM wasn't working so I didn't worry about my HR. But a few miles near the end of the ride I glanced at my watch and saw my HRM was working again and I was at 179 bpm. I didn't have any HR goals or expectations, but I knew that this was WAY TOO HIGH. But I didn't feel like I was working or breathing particularly hard so I didn't slow down or worry about it.

Slow down at toward the end of the ride to get my HR under control.

#5 of 30. I lost a few seconds coming into the transition area as I was going fast with a flying dismount, ready to dismount and run fast to my place without stopping. Unfortunately there were three guys stopped, getting off their bikes, blocking the entire entrance to transition. My flying dismount got real ugly as I braked from fast to a complete stop in just a few feet to avoid a collision, and the back end of my bike started doing an endo (I was running with it then, not on it, fortunately!). I managed to keep control of the front end of the bike before it flipped. I figure I lost at least 5 seconds or more here. Then I couldn't find my spot. It looked so different when there were almost no bikes in the area!

The top guy beat me by 12 seconds, so there is still room to improve.

Do something to mark my place. Someone mentioned strapping a neon ribbon at my place.

As I ran out of transition I noticed two things immediately. First, my legs felt fresh. Usually they feel stiff at the beginning of the run and I expected the same as I rode quite a bit faster than I did last year. But this was a good thing.

The second thing I noticed is that I was huffing and puffing and my HR was way out of whack. I started the run breathing way too hard and with a HR of 180. I would expect my HR to be that high at the end of the run, but no way could I sustain this for a quarter mile, let alone 3.1 miles!

I was tempted to walk to get things under control but I convinced myself to just run slower until my HR was in the 170-175 range. Eventually it came down to 175 and I attempted to maintain this pace. I felt slow the entire run.

At mile three I got passed by I guy in my AG. When saw the number on his leg I caught back up to him and ran side by side a few strides and asked "Race to the finish?" He took me up on it and we both started sprinting side-by-side, but way too fast for both of us. After a short bit he looked at me and said "I think we started too early!". Neither of us could keep the pace, but he was a much faster runner (his split was 90 seconds faster than mine) and pulled it out at the end. He beat my by 5 seconds...

In spite of all of this I still 37 seconds per mile faster than last year!

Next time I get caught at the end I need to quitely follow the guy and sprint by him just before the finish line. I'm a much better sprinter than a distance guy. I pretty much handed this guy the race by playing to his strength, not mine.

None. Unless you count beer.


I felt good about this race. I still have to become a lot smarter about racing and get better about transitions, but overall I was quite pleased. About 8 minutes faster than last year, and about a minute under my goal time!


A well organized and fun race!