Not quite over the mauling that I experienced in my last swim, I positioned myself at the back of the pack for the start. So I spent the first 500 meters navigating my way around the slower swimmers but there was plenty of room. The real problem was that in the first 500 meters 4-5 times I turned my head to take a breath only to have a wave right there causing me to take in huge gulps of water...at this point I didn't realize how detrimental this would be. We were definately swimming against a current for the first 500 meters but it didn't bother me too much.
Turned the corner and immediately felt the difference not swimming into a current. I paid very close attention to staying on course. I have a tendency to veer off to the left during OWSs and I knew the current would help push me that way. At this point it was a pretty uneventful swim. I wasn't pushing hard enough to get tired but I felt as though I was swimming a perfect pace to finish the swim in 30 minutes which was my goal.
As I turned the last corner I was starting to feel the effects of all that salt water in my belly from the beginning of the swim. My stomach was not feeling well at all. A few minutes later I could feel my whole mid section starting to bloat and as it was bloating more and more my wetsuit was getting more and more uncomfortably tight. Then I started feeling very hot...not sure if it was from not feeling well or b/c the water really wasn't cold enough to warrant the use of the wetsuit...either way it was multiplying how poorly I was feeling.
Climbed up the stairs, checked my watch, perfectly on schedule and confident that I'll feel better once I get the wetsuit off.




This was a great swim...I felt sick and hit my swim goal...can't ask for more.

I started to run into transition which seemed to make the stomach feel worse. I decided to walk. The wetsuit was pretty much off by the time I got to my bike. W/o urgency I put on my helmet and started to walk out of transition. Just as I took the bike off the rack I let out an explosive burp, it felt good. Ok, this is going to get better. I burped my way out of transition, feeling better with each burp.

It's embarrassing how slow this transition was but I felt sick from the swim and I thought it better to take it slow and start feeling better.

Bike started great. I ran a little further onto the bike course than I needed to but there were more than a few bikers clogging things up...it was quicker and easier to run past them and just get going. I hopped on, road over the cobble stone and then put my feet into the shoes, strapped them up and found the most comfortable gear to keep my cadence between 90-95. It was fun to see look at the bike computer and see that I was doing over 20 mph. This is going to be a nice cushion b/c I'm only hoping to average 18.75 mph. Let's see how long I can maintain this pace?? With the exception of my belly I'm feeling pretty good. In terms of GI issues I'm feeling about 90% at this point.

Mile 5, I'm still holding the pace and my legs feel strong and my heart rate is pretty low. The only downside is that GI issues seem to be getting worse. Every time I try to drink some nutrition I feel like I'm going to vomit. I start to wonder if I might not be better off if I do. I decide that I'll keep it in as long as I can.

Mile 10, still holding my pace, legs feel great, heart rate is low, and my bike is so comfortable that I might as well be laying on the couch...but I still want to vomit.

Mile 20, still holding the pace but the legs feel it for the first time. I start to slow down for about a 1/4 mile and then I decide that there is no way in hell that I'm going to keep this pace for so long and end up with a avg. mph of less than 20...back up to pace. The tired leg feeling was gone in a few minutes anyway.

Coming towards transition I got my feet out of the shoes and dismounted well.

I didn't know how much to save for the run. Now I know that I could have pushed much harder. Otherwise, this was a great bike. I felt sick and exceeded my goal of 18.75 avg. mph.

I ran into transition but then decided to walk to my rack to let my heartrate drop and my stomach settle. Maybe b/c I was upright for the first time in over an hour but all of a sudden my stomach felt a bit worse. Since I didn't feel well anyway I took the time to wipe my feet off, put on my socks (no socks for the bike), and I walk rather slowly out of transition.

Not feel sick

As soon as I left transistion I started running. I didn't know how fast but it was comfortable and I was feeling much better. This is when I realized that I could have pushed harder on the bike...it didn't even feel like a T-Run.
Water station coming up, drank some gatoraid and some water and pretty much instantly felt crappy again. Mile 1 came at 9 minutes...wow, 9 min/miles. My goal is to avg 10 min/miles. I knew I couldn't maintain that for the whole run but I was ok with it for now.

Started to feel much better. Water station coming up, drank some gatoraid and some water and pretty much instantly felt crappy again. I noticed the pattern. No more drinking on the run.

Mile 2 I got a cramp and I walked 1 minute to let it fade. Started running again.

Starting with the next water station I only used the water to pour over my head. If I couldn't drink it I was going to try to keep cool.

The cramp came back 2 more times, each time I gave myself a 1 minute walk break and came back running at a stronger pace than before the walk.

Kristen and Jack were waiting for me in the finish chute. I grabbed Jack, put him on my shoulders and headed towards the finish line. Crossed the finish line and had them put the medal on Jack...this was the highlight of a race where I had fun from start to finish regardless of how I was feeling.

I can't say it enough...this was a great race. I was dealing with salt water overdose GI issues and I had a run that I'm not unhappy with.

Found the family and walked around a bit waiting for the stomach to settle. It only took about 10 minutes for the stomach to settle completely but I ate and drank much less than I normally would after a race.


First and foremost, my goal. My "aggressive" goal was to finish in under 3 hours, I really expected to finish around 3:10. If I can finish in 2:54:33 with minor GI issues than I can certainly try for a faster time. In hindsight I'd really push much harder on the bike.


So much fun!!