Wow I just realized I was first in my AG in the swim portion! 27th overall was pretty cool too. It's obvious that the swim is my forte. The first little bit sucked because I couldn't seem to get around people, no matter how hard I tried. And people were on top of me as well [probably Jim, that wiener!] so I started kicking so as to splash and exasperate those who were behind me, as well as to propel myself forward and around the people who were causing me grief, and it seemed to work. Didn't escalate my HR too much either which I was concerned about. The rest of the swim went pretty well. Couldn't find feet to draft off of and I kept veering left, so that was kinda wacky. All in all though a good swim for me, a good effort which I worked on quite a bit these last two weeks.

Nothing.

Came into the T area and was putting on my socks/shoes when someone slapped me on the butt! It was Jim, he must've come right after me out of the water. I watched him grab his bike and take off, he must've had a smokin' fast T1 time! I didn't wear a shirt for this race which helped save me some time putting that on.

Un-snap my race belt before the race, that way I didn't have to do it before I put it on. Otherwise a good T1.

Very good bike for me! Stayed seated on the first lap so I could get the HR to a good spot [didn't wear a HRM so really it was to get the RPE to a good spot]. Then I stood up on all the hills until the 3rd lap near the stop sign on 96th St. After that I eased it in. Later my dad would tell me that the third lap was too slow for me and I need to work on keeping an even pace. I tried and tried to tell him that I was saving my legs from blowing up on the run [executed perfectly, you'll read about that in a sec], but he still wouldn't listen. Ah well, I'll just keep racing my own race ;)

A few noteworthy items: After I got off the path up by the high school I get passed by this guy who looks awfully familiar. Jim - what the heck?! Are you LAPPING ME! Turns out he busted a bolt on his seat so he couldn't stand up at all on the first lap and ended up stopping at his car to fix it so I snuck past him at some point. It completely confounded me at first and threw me for a loop for a second. Apparently he got 'er all fingered out and blew my doors off as per the protocol.

Also on the 2nd loop as I was climbing the hill on HWY 370 I tried to go from my big ring to the middle ring but I must've clicked too far with my shifters and ended up dropping my chain. No biggie, I just shifted up hard and tried to get it to grab but it kept rolling over itself along the BB so I ended up having to actually get off and crank my pedals with no stress on the chain and it came right back on. As I said in my training log it might've cost me 20-30 seconds, mostly due to lost momentum coming up the hill.

Not drop the chain, otherwise this was a very smart and good bike leg for me at this race. I can definitely feel the difference in all the hill training I've done this year vs. last year.

Ran into T2, racked my bike, took my helmet off, moved my race number to the front, and ran out of there! Fastest T2 of the day! That's why I say my transition spot was a good one. Right as you come into transition and along the path to the run.

Nothing.

Run is my weak link, my Achilles heel of 2008 due to PF. I just don't have a lot of run volume and it's not helping me during my races this year. I ran a great race all things considered. It was hot - the temp was 75^o with "RealFeel" of 86^o. There is almost no shade on this path either, despite Nebraska being "Home of Arbor Day". Plant some trees, people! Seriously! It's "WALNUT" Creek Lake, how's about we plant some WALNUT trees??? I digress.

Noteworthy items:
At about the 1 mile mark I saw a guy who looked like someone's avatar on BT so I said "Are you Douglas?" and he said "Hi there" or something like that, then I said "I'm Bripod" as we were passing each other. He replied "Nice to meet you!" So that was kinda weird/cool! He ended up getting 5th OA which is sahweet, especially considering the rough day he had at this tri last year.

At the turn-around I saw Jim walking and so I told him to pick it up! He injured his hamstring earlier in the week and so he wasn't sure what the run was going to look like. I caught him about 2 min. after the turn-around and ran with him for maybe 3-4 tenths of a mile. During that time I saw Ali's husband [sorry- still don't know his name!] lookin' strong at his first tri. I told Jim I was going to grab another gear and bring it home and I ended up having a strong push to the finish. This woman came up and passed me and I said something like, "You women are just too dang fast!" To which she replied, "Not fast enough!" Because she was trying to hunt down this lady who was ahead of her. I grabbed another gear [yes, another another gear] and caught up to her. I said, "I'm comin' to getcha!" and she said, "You're a guy, it's okay." At that point I realized that no matter how fast I went she'd still beat me by two minutes! Darn. With about 200 meters or so to go I said "Come on - final push" and I started to stride out. I wanted her to come catch me but she never did [and in a sense I'm glad]. In the finisher chute she came up and gave me a high-five and thanked me for pushing her. It's fun interacting with people at these races!

As I said in my training log, I was on that fine edge between having calf cramps and a side stitch and not. I slowed my pace for the first 3/4 of a mile or so and I think it helped a lot. I also beat my coach who beat me last year!

If I didn't have to drop my pace for the first bit I might have placed 3rd in the AG, I was only 68 seconds behind him. Just more run training is what I need.

Chatted with Jeremy, then Ryan, then my dad, then I hung out with Ali's husband trying to wait for her to finish, then I went up and found Brynn [she had to miss the race due to marathon training and getting the doggie to her mom's house]. Ate a bagel and drank a Powerade.


Just run training is all, I think. I'm sure there is some gear I could buy that will help me but it all will come with time. I'm thinking specifically of clipless pedals. I have aero bars but my bike has these auxiliary brakes on the flat part of the handlebars that I need to have taken off before I can mount the bars.


I give it a 4 due to them eliminating a water station from last year. They used to have one at about 3/4 mile, that way you caught it going out and coming back if you needed it, as well as one at the turn-around. This year they just had the one halfway again. Sorry, if the race starts at 8 and the heat index is getting up near 90^o when the first-timers are out on the run you've got to have fluids available to them.

Otherwise, they had chip timing this year which was very much appreciated, and the event really is just run pretty well. I wish they would be able to make some changes to the bike course, specifically past the transition area and up by the tennis courts. It's a sidewalk/bike path though so what are you gonna do. This course is pretty spectator friendly [albeit the bike is a toughie] and it's a lot of fun doing the race each year. This is my 3rd year at the event, 2nd as an individual, 1st time without an award of some kind. :(