Since this was a wave start, we only had about 200 people in my wave. The horn sounded and I was off. There was a little fighting for room at first, but it wasn’t too bad. I think everyone was just trying to get used to the water. After about 5-10 minutes my head got numb and the cold pain went away. So pretty much when it’s that cold your breathing technique goes out the window. I couldn’t breathe every 3 strokes like I wanted. I was breathing on the same side the whole time. There was a few times where I really focused on my form and breathing and did ok for like 5 minutes. And then I would get swum into and get thrown off balance and it was back to just splashing in the water. So I swam pretty moderate for most of it. The waves started to get a little bigger at the turn around spot, but not to bad. So I cruised trying to find someone to draft off of when I could. By the end of the swim it was starting to get crowded. I had caught the people in a few waves ahead of me and a few waves had caught me as well.

I fought my way to the swim finish and up the ramp I went at around 37:18. Not to bad, but I wanted closer to 35 minutes.

Not swim in freezing water!!

Then came the endless run through transition to my bike. Everyone had to run all the way down the outside of the transition and in the back. I think it took me 3+ minutes to get to my bike. I fumbled around trying to get my jersey on and make sure I had everything. I seriously spent at least 1 minute trying to put on my jersey. It got rolled up in the back and my back was wet so it was sticking to me! Finally I got everything done and ran to the front out of transition. T1 was 6:05. The pros were all at like 2:30 or 3:00 so I didn’t feel too bad.

Get my shirt on faster.

My goal for this race was to just cruise on the bike and try to do really well on the run. The first 28 miles were fairly flat and not too windy. I took them easy, but still averaged around 17.5mph. At mile 32 I encountered a pretty tough hill. There were actually around 20 people walking up with their bikes on the side of the road. It was really tough and I wasn’t moving much faster on my bike than they were walking. After the race, I looked at my Garmin and the hill was 1.1 miles long at a 14% grade!! I still felt like I was on track and was just enjoying the ride not really pushing hard.

The next 24 miles were pretty tough. We went through about 10 miles where it was deceiving and seemed flat but was actually up hill. That factor plus the wind really picked up and was probably 15mph in the face. There was one other hill about 12 miles out that was tough, but nothing compared to the first one. The last 10 miles were pretty flat, but very windy. I was having a hard time keeping 15.5mph into the wind. By this time my neck and back were starting to hurt from riding the tri bike. But I was close to the end. I crossed the timing mat and was glad to be off the bike. I wanted to take it slow and get a time close to 3:10-3:15, but the wind wouldn’t have it today.


Try to train more during the winter so i have a stronger bike base.

T2 went well. I made sure I had all my stuff and took off out of transition. Again it was a very long transition, took me 60 seconds to run from my back to the front of transition.
T2 – 3:27

I started off on the run and I was surprised at how good my legs felt right off the bat. I didn’t have the really heavy legs like I normally do coming off the bike. Maybe this was due to the tri bike or maybe because I didn’t push all that hard on the bike. Anyway, the first mile went by quick and I was passing people left and right. It was starting to get hot, so I tried to keep my water and Gatorade intake up. At the halfway mark of the first loop, I was still feeling really good. I was clipping off 8:30’s and it was feeling great. At this point I was telling myself that I would hold back until 7 or 8 miles and see how I felt. If I felt good, I would push the pace below 8 minute miles. I was still on track taking a GU every 30 minutes and drinking water and Gatorade at every aid station.

At the end of the first loop (6.55 miles) I still felt good. You should have seen me at the aid stations. I would take the first cup of water and pour it on my head. I would stop for 2-3s and drink a cup of Gatorade. Then I’d start running again and take an orange or banana and stuff it down followed by a third cup of water right onto the face and in the mouth. I made it to about mile 8 and I started tiring a little. I realized that my goal to break 6 hours wasn’t going to happen. I just took to long on the bike and I couldn’t make it up with my run. Every mile from then on got a little slower and a little slower. I was losing about 10s/mile every mile or so. I still felt good; my body was just getting tired. At the turn around of the second loop I was running around 9 minute miles. My slowest mile was at mile 11 at about 9:20. Now was the time to have some fun and try new stuff. I tried a cookie at one aid station – It tasted awesome after 6 hours of GU’s lol. I also tried some coke at the last aid station. It really did give me a boost. I felt pretty good the last miles, probably because it was the last mile. I gave a little push the last ¼ and ended up running the last mile in like 8:40. I crossed the line and looked down at my watch.