I haven't been doing much swimming until recently due to marathon training. I didn't expect to have good swim results. My swim wave seemed like a pretty big one and there was a lot of congestion in the beginning. Once things opened up, I just kept a nice steady pace. Didn't feel at all fast, just nice and easy. As always, I tried to do some drafting without much luck. I also felt like I was moving back and forth a bit and could've cut some time by taking a straighter line to the buoys. I tried to pick up the pace on the last straightaway and I felt pretty good. As I got out of the water, I looked at my watch and saw that I had my fastest swim time ever by a minute or so. That got me pretty hyped up for the bike.

After checking the results, it appears the swim was quite a bit short. I checked competitors times from other years and all were several minutes faster this year. There's no way everyone improved by that much, especially me since I've barely been in the pool all year. No biggie though, I still enjoyed it.

Just need more time in the pool

T1 was very good, one of my fastest. I had some trouble getting wetsuit off my ankles. I talked to some people after the race and they advised to cut some length off the legs. They are a few inches too long and I think that's what hangs them up. I still felt pretty fast and hauled past several people trotting with there bike to the mount line. I feel very comfortable now with putting my feet into shoes on the bike.

Cut length off wetsuit.

Got going on the bike and was feeling pretty good due to my good swim time. There was a headwind out on the main road and I was moving pretty slow. That was ok though since I was still trying to get my legs a bit warmed up. I took a gu gel early on in the bike. The course was pretty uneventful from what I remember. I played leapfrog with a couple guys the whole way and felt strong. I was trying to ride hard but not too hard because of the upcoming run. This was my first triathlon of the year and I'd only done one brick in training, so I wasn't sure how my run legs would feel. Towards the end of each lap there are two hills that I needed to get out of the saddle for. I attacked both of them and passed people on each climb which is rare for me. I stayed aero the whole ride which made my back and neck get sore towards the end. The final hill was tough and my legs were running out of gas, but I knew the bike leg was almost over. I took another gel at some point in the second lap. I went through three bike bottles of water and no Gatorade at all. I took about four endurolytes on the bike and a couple Tylenol. Had no stomach problems at all in the race which I attribute to getting rid of Gatorade. Tried to get cadence up on a higher gear to get ready for the run and came into T2 strong.

I'm pretty satisfied with this ride so there's not much I would change other than just getting out and training harder.

T2 also went quite well. Both transitions were up with my fastest. Got shoes off on bike and jumped off while moving. Flew into TA and put on socks and shoes. Tried rolling up socks which seemed to work pretty well. Took just an extra second or two to make sure I had all my gels and such, then out I went. My transitions jumped me up two spots in overall rankings. Not that it matters much when your as far back as me, but nice to steal some free time.

Someday I'll practice going sockless. That's about the only way to speed this up.

Got out of T2 and there was an aid station right there. Still hadn't gotten my number belt or hat on and was fiddling with some sunscreen wipes that I like to use. Still got some water but would have liked to have gotten two as I could feel the heat now. I don't know if it would've really mattered though because it got brutal out there. My first mile I was trying to work out the jelly legs but I was moving at an unusually slow pace. Just tried to keep moving but I think I had my first walk before mile 2. It's not rare for me to walk a bit during races, but not as much as I did at this race. The thing is, I didn't feel so bad because just about everyone was walking. I'd look up the road and see what looked like a dozen zombies walking. At that point I was pretty much in damage control mode and just wanted to finish safely. I saw at least two people taken off the run course by ambulance. I just continued on with a run/walk and tried to take as much water as possible at the aid stations. I felt like they could've used more aid stations due to the extreme heat and humidity. I took two gels at various points during the run and tried to drink an Infinit Heed drink at an aid station. It was horrible and I won't try it again. The last mile was probably my best probably because I knew I was almost done. I felt like I finished pretty strong and even though I had a bad run performance, I was still happy to have completed the race.

I guess I should try to run in some heat to get better acclimated. I do most of my running in the mornings when it's cool. I've run two marathons this year and have done more running than ever before, so I thought my run would be my strongest event. It's just not the same running after biking and also in some brutal heat conditions.

Tried to stretch a bit then got some water and a bit of food they had set up.


Preparation. Training.


HFP always does a nice job at the races. I would've like to have seen another water station on the run due to the extreme heat. Also they need to work on getting through the packet pickup line faster. The delay in the race only made it hotter. Still, you can't beat the bang for the buck. This is my third time doing Deer Creek and have done many other HFP events. I'll be back for more for sure.