Was VERY nervous waiting on the beach. About 60 seconds before my wave men off I heard the wife and my 6 year old yell over to me. I went over gave her a kiss and him a high 5 which made me relax a bit.

The first 1/4-1/3 mile was a wrestling match. I could not get clear of a pack. I had to stop about every 4th stroke because of elbow to the back or a foot to the face. It was ROUGH and not because of the chop. Rounded the first buoy and things spread out a bit. Got into a rhythm and made some good time.

Things got crowded again on the return leg. Walking up those metal stairs is an adventure. Overall it was a GREAT swim. My OW time was about the same as my non-wetsuit pool time. It'll get better with time but I was happy.

Need to work on my sighting. I think I swam 1.25 miles on a .9 mile course. I would end up 10-15 yards off course. I think partly due to the current but I know some of it was my fault.

I also need to be more aggressive. I tend p let the guy in front move outof the way to give me room to swim. Towards the end I was muscling past when they slowed down. Need to do that from the start.

Got the wetsuit off with no issues. However I noticed on mile 2 of the RUN that my noseplugs were sill around my neck. Real smooth.. ;)

Also had a problem getting my left shoe clipped in. Had to stop and get clipped in. Have NEVER had problems before. Of course it had to happen in the race.

Need to work on speed in T1 for sure.

Take off the noseplugs. Try to ride w/o socks.

About 1/2 way out I had to stop because my rear tire looked a bit flat. Hit it with the CO2 inflator and was off again. Probably lost 3-4 mins because of that.

There were LARGE packs of cyclists on the course. While I'm not one to call drafting on anyone I'm not sure how you could NOT be drafting in those packs. The course was just so packed.

Also the course is not through the best part of town. Lets just say I would not be riding thru some of them without the presence of a cop every 500 yards like in the race.

My pace was real good for the first 1/2 of the course but then my left IT band (down by the knee) began to twinge a bit. By the end of the course it was throbbing every other pedal.

Need to get some aerobars. Also need to stretch out the IT band more before the race.

Pretty fast T2 (the transition area is BIG). Most of the time was spent running in and out. Forgot my race belt with number however. Got to see Cherry & Max on the way out and gave them both a high five.

Should have put on the race belt in T1.

The IT band began to really bother me around mile 2. Felt like an ice pick in the left knee. The worst part was that it was my RIGHT knee I wa worried about. I could run for about 1/2 a mile and would have to walk or stop and stretch it out for a few mins. I was REALLY frustrated with it. I could have had great run if i were not for this.

I did however drink a bit too much water. It was sloshing around y the end of the run. I heard a lot of people complain about the heat but I did not think it was too hot. Maybe I'm just used to the FL heat.

Managed to push it in from mile 5 to the finish with the encouragement of the crowd. Sprinted in the last 100 yards.

Work on the IT band more before the race.

Met all of the people who came out to support me and Jeff. Great people! Went to the massage tent where they worked on my IT band. Got some Gatorade and an ice-cold towel. Got some grapes, pizza and strawberries at the food tent. Then waited for 45 min in line to get my bike from transition. That was my only complaint about the race.


Training. Need to work on all three but considering my goal was 3:30 and I beat it by 15 mins I'm happy with my first Olympic.


Super race. Well organized and lots of great volunteers. Need to find a better way for races to get their bikes after the race.