During the warmup swim, I thought "this isn't that bad... worse than last year, but manageable". I feel like there was a difference in the wave quality when all those other bodies got out there... for the first couple of minutes, it seemed like water was coming at me from all sides. I took a big gulp of it on a breath and sidestroked for a couple of minutes, spluttering. You could see the heads popping up all over as everyone reevaluated their swim strategy.

I thought to myself "well, if necessary you can sidestroke through the whole thing", and then put my head back down and swam. After that it got better. Swam over a backstroker once who got pushed into me sideways, but other than that I was swimming alone most of the time. Had trouble sighting on the way back in because of the size of the waves, and pulled a little too wide to the left because I thought the waves would push me right more than they did. Other than that, this was an ok swim for the conditions.

Not much. You just do what you can. I heard some horror stories of folks who were further back in the pack...

Got out of T1 in ok time... my heels got stuck a bit, and I was a little out of focus from the swim. Forgot to take my cap/goggles off for quite a while, for example.

Not much... yank on my suit harder?

Came out of transition in a crowd. Took a bit to get up, moving, and around that first section just due to bodies all around. Probably could have pushed a little more on the early section of the bike when the wind was blocked and gusty. Got passed a lot in that section - more than I should have been. I knew the wind on the 2-mile hill section was going to be a headwind, so I think I psyched myself out a bit and held back.

Loved, loved, loved knowing the course from doing it a couple of times. Made all the difference in the world on some of the passes. If they stay with this road course next year I'm going to make a point to get down there more often.



All in all, decent bike - but I probably could have put more out there, especially in the early section.

Slipped a bit here. Got off the bike in good form, but had trouble racking. Then got all flustered with my socks - no idea what that was about. Should probably try to get to sockless next year.

Move faster?

Yeeouch. It was a perfect day for running (gusty winds to cool you, not too hot) and I was 2 minutes slower than LY. Serious run training, here I come.

Get my run determination back, lose those 10 pounds.

Lots of fun hanging with my pals. One guy we know won the Gear West Zipps, so that was pretty cool. I probably knew 25 people who did the race, so we had a good time.


Sucky training work ethic this spring.


I love this race.