The over-40 people went 3 minutes before us under-40 kids. When the gun went off, I immediately got on some pretty sweet feet. I was all excited about drafting, and then about a minute into the race the guy stopped and kicked me in the face. So, no more of those feet. I move on to try to draft off the left hip of some other guy. Okay, cool, it's all going fine. But then I notice this guy is pointed left when the first buoy was to our right (1 o'clock). So I stopped (heresy!), let him go by, and then embarked on my own course. I spent most of the remaining swim with no draft, but that was okay. The water was clear, my goggles weren't foggy, and I could shoot right for the buoys. The danger of going my own way was that I kept running into driftwood! Luckily I saw the biggest piece--a 3-foot-long 2x4--before I hit it, so I sent it spinning to the side and it became someone else's problem. Apparently I passed a lot of the over-40 wave members, but they all had chosen a different line in the water, so I didn't have to dodge any of them.


I thought I had a pretty nice stroke going, with a good catch and snappy roll. And my navigation was almost perfect, so I thought I was going to have a pretty quick time--13 minutes or less. When I popped out of the water I heard someone announce that the first biker just left T1, so I knew I was in the front of both waves. I was really surprised later to find out my swim was so slow! Apparently there was a current for 1/3 of the race, but I didn't think it was strong enough to slow me by 5 minutes. I think maybe the course was long. But, oh well, I shouldn't really care.

Nothing. It was good.

I ran to my sucky transition spot, barely getting my goggles off in time (as always). I got my shoes and helmet on kind of slowly, and I felt like I was forgetting something for some reason.

When I left T1, they made the announcement that the first under-40 guy was leaving. I thought that was me at the time. Now that the results are out, I think I was 3rd in my wave onto the bike course (really good) and I think 3 or 4 guys from the over-40 wave got out there before me (ridiculously good).

Nothing. It was just a standard transition for me.

Mean heart rate = 160 bpm (a little low)
Mean power = 207 W
Mean cadence = 77 rpm

This bike course was really hard. The climbs were steep, and the course wasn't really rolling, so the downhills didn't help much on the next uphills. The hills started right out of T1, and a couple miles into the race we started a huge climb that took me 10 minutes to complete. I passed three guys (over-40), and two other guys passed me (also over-40), in the first 4 miles. The rest of the ride I did alone.

It was a largely uneventful ride. I tried to take big advantage of the downhills, and survive the uphills, and it worked pretty well. My FTP is 228 W, but my legs weren't 100% today, so I was happy with 207 for this leg.

I had some nausea from the saltwater in the first few miles. I drank some water to try to fix it, but that didn't work. Then I ate a GU, and that got rid of it completely. I have to remember that cure for next time.

Maybe I should have pushed harder. The finish came sooner than I expected.

I decided not to do a flying dismount, because it was downhill going into T2. So, I clodhopped over to my rack. I wasn't super fast at this transition.

Eh nothing.

Mean heart rate = 178 bpm

The run started with an uphill, so I couldn't kick it into high gear right away. For the first half mile or so I felt like I was going my training run pace, because I wasn't pushing. My legs needed a minute to warm up I guess. Eventually I started to pick up the pace, strategic-like, because someone popped up 100 meters behind me. I didn't see any bikers behind me going into T2, so I couldn't tell if this guy should be on his first or second lap. If it was his first, I had to figure out a way to hold him off. That would be hard to do, so I was happy when he turned into the finish when I started my second loop. Great! No more pressure! I spent the whole second loop trying to pick people off. My legs were ready to run fast, even with the rolling hills. I caught the guys that passed me on the bike. One of them I caught with about 400 meters to go. I had a big gap after that, so I just cruised in. No finishing sprint necessary.

Nothin'. I just wanted to catch the bikers that passed me. :)

Whenever anyone is faster than me on the bike, I secretly vow revenge during the run. Especially when people are faster AND have nicer bikes than me.

I didn't really cool down or stretch. This was because I was talking to some people. They told me I was in the top 5, so that made me happy. I ate some food, walked around, and eventually put my legs in the Puget Sound to ice them.


Swim: the current, I guess.
Bike: the hills and turns made it difficult to gauge my effort well.
Run: the rolling hills made it mentally hard at first.


The good:

Spectators and participants are VERY friendly at this race.

Post-race food is awesome, especially for a small, low-cost race. Examples: cookies, grapes, bananas, oranges, yogurt, granola bars, bagels with cream cheese. There were other things too, but I forgot to eat them.

It's fun to swim in the ocean. The saltwater and currents make things interesting, but overall it isn't difficult to swim because the water is so clear.

The run has lots of shade.

There is a kids tri that starts a few hours after the regular sprint. After you're done with your race you can watch your kid compete.

The bad:

This year we were supposed to be able to rack our bikes the night before, but that didn't work out at the last minute. It didn't present a big problem on race morning; it just meant a wasted ferry trip the day before.

The ugly:

The bike course is really quite challenging with its many steep hills and some technical turns. It's pretty unique for a sprint tri, so I think I like it.