28:04 was time in water. No way I am that fast. Swim was definitely short. Actual results post 31:10 which includes removing wetsuit and ~0.3mi run to transition area.

With only two waves, there were ~140 men in my wave. I got hit quite a few times in the first 200-300...good practice for IM. After that I settled in to comfortably hard effort. Sighting was good...drafting was so-so, as I grabbed feet where I could but didn't necessarily follow when I thought they steered off course.

Nothing big. Maybe push opening 200 harder and try to draft a bit more.

AHR: 170
MHR: 179

Actual results show 1:09 (tied for 3rd OA). I included the run up to the TA in this posting.

Ran barefoot as you could run on grass for 95% of the way. Already had suit, cap and goggles off when I got to T1. Dropped them and then put chapstick and Endurolytes in shorts pocket, sunglasses and helmet on and then run out with bike.

Nothing really.

The plan was to race on HR, but that went out the window quickly as I just couldn't manage to get the HR down even though I felt I was keeping the appropriate pace. Started nutrition around 15min. At ~mile 15 I was returning my ~1100 calorie bottle to my bottle cage when the top bolt came out. I only had one cage on the bike. The bottom screw remained tight enough for about the next 15-20mi, but I still held the bottle in hand when decending Reedy Point Bridge when heading South (rougher road). After that, I tried to tighten up the bottom bolt with my fingers on the fly, but no dice. I put the bottle in one of my tiny tri-top pockets and continued on my way.

Wind was tough in certain directions...I was holding 23mph in one direction but only 19 in the other. Good practice for IMFL.

HR was z3 pretty much the whole time. I was nervous to drop the HR strategy but felt I had to make a decision and forget about it. I went with RPE and it turned out well.

Got passed by a dozen or so riders. Not 100% sure if I should have gone harder, but I definitely felt very good on the bike and didn't feel my legs at all until about mile 45. Plus any harder would have had high z3 to low z4 heart rate.

Lower back was tight at the end. Being that I was aero for all but short accelerations out of corners this again was good practice for IMFL. May raise aerobars 1cm for FL. Will make decision after I do my IMFL race rehearsal workout in a cpl weeks.

My bike computer, and those of a few others on ST, had the course at ~55mi. Bike computer avg speed was ~20.9mph.

Got to see Laura on the bike 3x. She looked good but I did yell at her the first time as she was rocking her shoulders quite a bit:P

NUTRITION:
~900cal of Perpetuem/Gel concoction
~3 Endurolyte tabs

Do a better pre-race bike inspection. I checked aero bars and other bolts, but not the bottle cage. My bad!

Maybe I should train and race on power :)

Racked bike. Sat down and wiped off feet, put on socks and then shoes. Put on knee strap. Put flash in shorts pocket. Grabbed number and left.

Slow. Need to hussle more.

Mount and L-bracket onto my the back of my seat rails so I can rack the bike without tilting it and dipping it under the low racks.

Carry flask and put it in the pocket while running.

Prob the best I felt on any tri run. Again, HR was a bit high, but doing that 20-miler with high HR a couple weeks back definitely gave me the confidence that I could "run hot" and be fine.

Ran the first ~3mi with one guy. We chatted a bit and he commented how it looked like I wasn't working that hard on the bike (we had passed each other a couple times near the end) and that I prob paced the bike better. We picked of three other runners, none of which were in my AG (two were in his). After mile 3 he faded a bit and I kept on going.

I kept a pretty steady pace to the turnaround and passed a couple more people, including one guy in my AG. At that point I picked up the effort slightly, just to try and keep the pace the same. I also know there were 2-3 guys in front of me that I could certainly catch. Saw Laura at my mile 8 and realized she was having a great race as she was ~23min back but the net was ~18min as she had a later wave (I didn't do any math on the bike).

Body just felt great and I kept pushing a solid z3 HR. I passed a guy around mile 9 and couldn't even see the next guy. I asked some voluteers at the aid stations where the next person was and no one exactly. I was gaining but ran out of course. It was great running back into the park...good crowd right before mile 12 and then got sprayed by two little girls with water cannons at mile ~12.2. Very cute. Final mile felt good and was fast.

Final tally...I believe I passed 6 ppl and 2 passed me.

NUTRITION:
Hit from gel flask @ 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 (~350cal)
1 Endurolyte @ 1, 5, 9
Water at every aid station


Nothing really. Maybe push harder sooner.

Walked from finish to TA to pack up and drink Recoverite. Packed my stuff and grabbed camera from car, then snapped some pics of Laura around mile 12 and again in the finishing shoot.

Had some food and stretched.


Only option I really see was to push the bike harder. Not sure how that would have effected the run.

Overall, I am very happy with this race. First, I was able to deal with the high HR and lost bottle cage screw, with minimal impact. Second, I know I have a faster half in me. Just felt so good out there. Third, I now have the confidence of believing I can go sub-11 in FL as oppose to just thinking I could.

AHR for whole race: 154


Race was great. Volunteers were great. Post race was not one of Pirahna best shows IMO. Food was ok at best (small hoagies, water, coke, diet coke, pretzel and fruit chew packs..that's it) and they were breaking down at around the 6hr mark (race time) and there was no soda/water left by the 7hr mark (possible that they still had water at finish line but not in food tent).