The swim was definitely long; I started strong and felt good throughout almost the entire swim. I finished the first lap at 12:32 and headed out on the second in 6th with a trailing group. My plan was to bridge up to the group and swim easy through the second lap but I just couldn't make up enough ground. Except for one short period where I lost focus, I was swimming well and was able to drop the pack that was following me (the next swimmer lost more than 40" on the second lap). I stood up at 25:40; not a negative split but the current seemed to have picked up on the second loop.

Try to stay with the lead pack; I let them get away when they surged and should have been able to stay with them.

Good transition; run up the beach, up the ramp to the boardwalk, down the boardwalk to my bike and then out. I passed two guys in transition who swam 30" faster (Rob said to me as I was mounting that I was way too fast in transition :)

Nothing

I just couldn't get going on the bike; the hills sapped my legs and it didn't seem to matter what I was doing, I was still getting passed. I was able to hold a few people off for a bit but it wasn't a strong ride. Had some issues when we came back as there were some tri-a-tri and sprinters who were riding 2 and 3 abreast and blocking the road; need to be more aggressive here. Came back into transition with Antar and knew that was going to be a problem on the run.

Try to hold athletes when they go by for longer. I think I could have pushed harder and still run well but just wasn't focused in enough.

Good

Nothing

I came out of transition with Rob in front of me; I was chasing him to the base of the climb and followed him up; I wanted to slowly eat into his lead and then go by him and not see him again. However, Antar came by and said I should go with him (he's a former X-country runner) so I tried to maintain contact with him and we passed Rob and I kept going. My next focus was on staying with Antar and using him to track down other athletes in the race. Saw the leader looking strong and in control and then started seeing the other athletes; Brent and a couple of other athletes looked catchable and at the turnaround, Antar started to push the pace so I tried to follow. Unfortunatley, I just didn't have it; I was able to pick up the pace slightly but lost contact with Antar and didn't put much time in the rest of the field. With about 1km to go, I heard footsteps and Rob was up on my shoulder. We ran together to the park and then we sprinted out the finish; I thought I had him but with about 10' to go, he dropped the hammer and took 8th!

Not go with Antar and aim for a more evenly paced run.

Walked and ate


Hills on the bike and run.


Overall, not a bad race; definitely not my best race but not bad. This was the deepest field I've raced in Nova Scotia this year and knew that my top 5 was out the window when I saw who was on the start line. My goal was to beat last year's time and put in a good showing. I think if I had biked to my ability level I may have been able to challenge for fifth but it just wasn't in the cards today.