This swim felt great. The waves were huge, but it felt manageable. I was able to swim with much better form than my races last year. I am glad I began focusing on swimming this year. The only reason I did is because I was afraid of this swim. My training paid off!

My wave was pretty crowded. And, it seemed like many people were struggling. I even saw 3-5 people swimming perpendicular to me. I kept thinking am I going the wrong way or are they? Turns out it was them. I probably should have grabbed them and straightened them out??? But, they were far away from by the time I figured it out.

An ocean swim was fun, but difficult. It was hard to sight. This swim here will always be unpredictable. We stayed a few days after the race and the water changed dramatically over the course of those days. You just have to be ready for the worst and hope for the best.

More OWS practice. Start in the front and prepare for turn buoys better. Maybe swim harder. I felt like I had more to give on this swim.

I am horrible at transitions. I took off my wet suit soon after I got out of the water. The time actually counted in my swim. I think that is they way I will continue to do it. I ran down the wrong lane and got lost for a few seconds. In general, I am just slow. I feel like I'm moving fast but I'm apparently not!

Correction: I just saw a picture of me on the timing mat with my wet suit on. I guess I took it off after the mat. It was a 10 second thing either way.

Practice (in my free time) :)

The bike also went great. The course way flat and fast. There was a nice cloud cover for the majority of it. Head winds and rough road towards the end were nasty. This is the first race where I felt strong on the bike. I actually passed way more people than I got passed by. That felt good.

I made one mistake on the bike that came back to haunt me on the run. I left one bottle of Accelerade untouched. The bottle was on my back left. I can't reach that bottle comfortably so I just didn't drink it. I also didn't grab anything from the stations on the course. I felt fine while on the bike so I didn't worry too much about it.

I also borrowed some speed for this ride. A set of Zipp 606s. Sweet! Maybe that's why I was able to pass so many discs!!

I am going to start drinking out of my "un-reachable" bottle first while training. Then I will feel comfortable reaching all bottles while riding.

Not bad. Faster than I thought.

I think this is where the missing acclerade came into play. Miles 1 & 2 were great, but the rest were near impossible. I love running so I am frustrated that this was so difficult. I also don't mind running in heat so I figured I could handle this. The cloud cover left and I was toast. It was weird. My legs felt perfectly fine, but I could not run more than 3/4 of a mile at a time. I think the combination of heat and nutrition caused all the trouble. I also lacked mental toughness on this run. I need to work on that.

The volunteers / aid stations on the course were the best I have ever seen. Each station was like a buffet! The ice cold sponges were perfect. Plus, the volunteers encouragement was very helpful.

I would do longer bricks. Plus, I would run in the heat. But, we didn't get that chance in Atlanta this spring.

Water, water and water. NAMC tent and beer.


This is a great event. Fast and flat course. Best volunteers I have seen in my limited number of races. Really organized event. I will do it several more times.

The only factors I didn't like were either my fault (nutrition) or uncontrollable (water & heat).