Considering my last triathlon swim (which consisted of the backstroke for 800 meters) this was fantastic. My motto for the swim portion: slow and steady wins the race. I walked into the water, avoid the tussle, took my time for the first 200 meters and ended passing some people who obviously started off a little too hard. I didn't try to draft, I just focused on steady breathing and sighting. Here is where I have a little beef with the swim course. The course was changed the morning of the race, and it was marked by only two buoys. There were a lot of swimmers who didn't know where they were going (including myself) because it was tough to see the second buoy until you got close to it.

Just swim more, and work on speed and technique. If my swimming keeps improving at this pace, I'll be happy.

Decent prep work seemed to have paid off. I still get my ankles stuck in the wetsuit, but other than that it went pretty well

There are always seconds to shave off.

The bike felt pretty solid. It was a little disheartening to hear the whine of so many discs passing me, as well as seeing so many expensive bikes flying past. Oh well, I'm not at that level yet. I had a goal (21 mph) and I was a little short of that, but I did what I had to do to keep my legs fresh for the run.

Overall not much. I should work more on the bike so I can raise my average a couple mphs (maybe 22-23...)

Well, I got my feet out of my shoes, and pedaled in, jumped on the bike and ran to my rack. Only problem, was it wasn't my rack. I spent a couple minutes frantically overturning wetsuits, convinced that someone had taken my shoes. Well, when I finally found my stuff, things went pretty quickly.

Find my spot for goodness sakes.

The run was really good and really painful. My legs felt good on the run, but it was easy for me to fall into a "reasonable" pace, and since there was nothing after the run, there was no reason to save anything. It was very hard to keep myself mentally and physically involved in the run and not get sucked into daydream mood. I was rewarded with a new 10k record and 30 seconds off my dream goal of a sub-2:30 oly race (if only I hadn't dawdled in T2). Oh well.

I'm pretty sure I had a negative split on the run, and I would have liked to have hurt a little bit more on the run.

Water, and then a quick shower on the beach.


The race went well. The only thing I really could have done was not screw around in transitions. Other than that: train more!


This was a great race. Ventura is a really enjoyable city, the weather was perfect for a race, and the race was well organized. There were lots of volunteers and except for my little problem with the swim course everything was very professional. The best part, though, has the be the post-race BBQ with great food and a cool environment to hang out for an hour or two.