very calm and nice compared to last year. started towards the outside a bit. swam really straight and sighted well. kept monitoring HR so i wouldn't go too high and risk burning out in the run (like last year). kept HR in the low to mid 140's. felt great.

perhaps go a bit harder.

goal was to improve on transitions form last year (both were about 6 min). got everythign together and was off in under 4 min. felt good about that.

nothing

did really well on maintaining HR in the right zone as well as with hydration/supplements/nutrition. wind was not an issue but could have benefitted from a tri bike instead of my road bike. perhaps i'll break down and get one for next year. overall very happy with my strategy. didn't get caught up going too hard, and maintained a proper pace, even thought i wanted a faster pace. had to save some juice for the run.

perhaps invest in a tri bike to gain some speed, and need to drop about another 15-20 lbs (196 on race day).

a little slow getting off bike. lots of traffic and people were bottle-necked a bit. i passed 4-5 people in this area.

perhaps work on faster dismounts.

i thought i raced a perfect race until the run. HR/food/fluids... everything was spot on, all set for a perfect run (sub 9 pace was the goal). well... right off the bat my HR jumped to 180. i knew that this was gonna be a terrible run. the heat was just unbearable, so i had to do a lot of run/walking. after each walk session, HR went back to 175 within a minute of running at a 10+ min pace. the heat was just absolutely nuts. Easily 20-25 degrees warmer than any run i've done this year. i was told road surface temps were 115 and i believe it.

perhaps weight loss could have helped, but the weather was just unbearable on the run. not much i could do about the heat.

got ice and was hosed off at the finish line which felt awesome. went and drank gatorade, water and a pepsi and layed down for a bit. got up afterwards and got more fluids and some food. couldn't stretch b/c of excessive cramping, so had to just lay/sit carefully. even cramped (shins) from walking to the car.


heat heat heat!


my only criticism of the race is very poor marking of miles. there was only one trustworthy mile marker on the bike course (40 mi). not usually a big deal but i didn't have my computer in working order. wasn't sure if the drink tents were all at mile markers, but assumed so. great volunteer help and very professionally run race.