When the horn went off I just buried my head and swam as fast as I could. When I took my first breathe I saw only a few people ahead of me. My first 150-200m I felt really good and then I slowed down some. Probably due to my lack of swimming since Ironman Arizona. The time on this course includes the time you stand up, wade thru some water and then a little hike towards transition where you finally hit the timing mat.

more open water and actually swim more consistently. Personally there is no reason i shouldn't have broken 9 minutes on this swim. But i'll just have to take the time.

This the first real attempt to get into my shoes on the bike since Longhorn half last year... besides the couple of times the day before

nothing, i felt calm and relaxed during transition.

Ok, when i got onto the course I hit the initial part really hard and passed a few people in my AG. The roads were quite crowded as my ag was the 6th one to go. I rolled the dice as usual on the shorter courses and brought along no spare tube/equipment and only 3/4 full bottle of h2o with a gel in the bottle. I was passing people like crazy and for the first 10 miles no one passed me. Around mile 10 I was passed by a person in my AG, I recognized him and knew he was a stronger cyclist. But I was ok with it as I hoped I could catch him on the run. At mile 12 another guy passed me and saw he was in my AG. I didn't know too much about him so I let him get no more than 200m or so ahead of me. About .5 mile from transition I pulled out of my shoes, had a perfect running dismount and a perfect transition from bike to run.

about mile 10 i was working really hard. Will need to continue to develop some speed with speed intervals/thresh hold training

Awesome transition. I came into transition in 3rd and came out 2nd.

nothing

Alright as soon as I got on the run course I saw the guy in my AG just about 200m or so ahead of me. I knew I would catch him. At first I couldnt see the other guy who passed me at the end of the bike, so I really pushed the first mile. About 3/4 mile into run I passed Mike (mkmbharris) and said hi. I hit mile 1 marker in 6:02. I knew this was a little too fast but I wanted to go all out. I looked back and saw the guy who passed me on the bike at the end and he caught me just past the 1 mile mark. At this point I made the decision to run with him. I ran behind him for about .5 mile, then i pulled up next to him. As i did this, I noticed he was breathing really hard and what I did next I have never done. I tried to play some head games. I told him, man it is really hot out, but man my legs feel really good. He was having a hard time talking back to me but was attempting. We kept up the conversation until mile 2, he cracked just enough for me to create some space. As he cracked I turned it up a notch and just went after the win. Once I crossed the line I found out that I won my AG.

nothing - I have been running 3 times a week in the afternoon and all the running in the 2pm heat paid off. My legs felt good, especially at the end of the run. I really wanted to break 19 minutes on the run. during a practice run the week before on the course i ran a 18:09 but with alot less effort on the bike.

Talked with Todde (jwithyco), Mike (mkmbharris) and quite a few others. I confirmed I won my AG and stuck around to collect my medal for yes 1st place in my AG. I couldn't believe it.


Swim, i just need to get to the pool more often. Bike, continue doing some thresh hold workouts
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on a side note - if you don't think transitions make a difference... I beat the 2nd place guy by having better transitions times.


Overall a great race, great venue, especially for first timers. Yes the roads have some rough patches but overall a nice bike course, lots of rolling hills to challenge you. Post race was ok but this is a smaller race and didn't expect that IM feel. Looking foward to next year.