I sprinted at the beginning to get with faster swimmers in hope of catching a good draft. The pack spread out pretty fast and after the first turnaround, I latched onto another swimmer. I followed on his feet until after the second turnaround when I noticed he was drifting off course a little bit, so I spotted another guy and sprinted to get into his draft. While drafting I felt like I was swimming too slow, but I know that if I got out of the draft I wouldn't go much faster, but I'd expend more energy, so I stayed put.

Find a faster swimmer to draft off of. Looking at the results, I see that there was another pack a minute ahead. I'm sure that I could have hung with them if I had grabbed those feet. Maybe I should look around more at the swimmers when starting, but on the other hand if I'm sighting I'll swim slower and won't be able to keep up with the faster swimmers. This needs more experimentation.

I still suck at T1. I really should practice.

Practice not being slow.

I had not scouted the course before the race and was surprised by the hillyness, especially at the beginning. I was alone for several miles in the middle of the ride until I was passed at mile 15. I made sure I kept that guy in sight for the rest of the bike. Towards the end I got distracted by a string hanging off my front brake while going up a hill and almost drifted into a curb, but managed clip out and to catch myself before falling over.

If I did not get passed I probably would not have ridden as hard. I should focus more and ride harder even when I don't see anyone around.

The guy I was chasing did a nice flying dismount, so I figured I'd try that too. It went pretty well, but I came within a couple inches of taking out the pair of volunteers directing us to transition. Maybe that was why I forgot to take my Garmin off my bike and put it on my wrist.

I'm not used to running without my Garmin to tell me my pace and heart rate, so I did my best to pace myself. I was passed by a couple guys about a mile in and I tried to stick with them, but that didn't last long. The hills were tough and I just pushed the whole way through. I definitely faded in the last couple miles.

I ate some watermelon, stretched a bit and took a dip in the river. Packed up my stuff and had a burger, checked out the results and headed home.


Less than optimal choice of swim drafting, lack of focus on the bike and poor pacing on the run.


The new Shelton site is nice and the race was executed well. The shortened bike course was annoying since I'd like to have the standard distance to compare my time to. Aside from that, the race venue was a good one and it was a challenging course.