This swim was awesome for me. I was so calm and relaxed the whole time I was in the water. Everything just felt smooth and good. The water was like glass. I was able to swim the whole thing doing freestyle, a major improvement for me from my A)damn near every other OWS this season, and B)my last longer-distance swim. I think this was almost identical to my 1000m swim at the Tri-America in Lake Michigan. Oh yeah, this swim also included the bit of time for the run to transition. Say around 1 minute.

Nothing.

This trans time looks great, until I tell you I couldn't get into my shoes while pedaling. Eventually gave up, stopped, unclipped from the pedals and put the shoes on.

Just put on my shoes and run with them out of transition. I was a bit too fatigued to pull them on while I was moving.

Since I hadn't done an Olympic before I didn't want to try to go out and crush the bike at the expense of my run. I just wanted to set a good pace, hold it and have energy for the run. Plus I was "a bit" tired from the swim. Ate 2 GU's and 750ml of HEED. I love HEED, the taste is so good. But I think I mixed it too strong as I was covered in salt at the end of the race.

Probably push just a little bit harder.

It worked. That's really all you can say about transitions, right?

Wow, can't believe this run put me at 12/14. No matter. Felt great during the run, during the whole race really, but surprisingly good during the run. Wish I would have had some more time to break in the new shoes, but they felt fine. My legs aren't even too sore now. I am really happy with how the run went. My longest training runs have pushed 6 miles, and have generally been at about 9min/mile. So this is great. Got to talk some smack on the run to all the guys running in UNI Panthers jerseys (UNI is in Cedar Falls/Waterloo and my Saluki's just beat up on them last night). Got to joke around a bit with the volunteers and had some fun.

Nothing. Nothing at all. I can't believe I went out there at the end of all that and laid down 8:XX min/miles. I couldn't really be more pleased with that.

Crossed the finish line and took my medal, hat, bottle of Gatorade and water. Walked for a minute to get my balance set up right, then headed for the massage tent. Did a good bit of stretching/yoga while I waited in line for my turn at the table.


Really, I felt like my performance was good overall. Of course with more training I would have been able to swim/bike/run faster. But this was my first Oly. I lost all of July in the pool due to injury, and the first two weeks of September, basically, to a cold which became bronchitis.


Overall this may have been the most well organized and staffed race of the 8 that I've done. Was at the very least the equal of Carmel, IN. They had a ton of volunteers who were all very friendly and cheered for everyone. Some of the girls on the run course had been clapping so much that their hands actually turned red. They were very well organized and had some great swag. I spoke the race director after the race and congratulated her on how well the event was put together, and how fantastic their venue was, especially considering that this was their first year. They even had funny stuff at the end like the UNI cheerleaders cheering for people as I crossed the finish line. Luckily they weren't there when I came across or I would have had to ask them to do a cheer for my Saluki's. This is definitely a race I would recommend to anyone looking for a late season Olympic distance.

This was also a fantastic race for me for a few reasons.
1)I decided to do the race yesterday, so I hadn't spent time thinking about what kind of time I should finish in so I hadn't put any pressure on myself. I think this is why I was so calm during the entire race. I was just focused on racing my race and not worrying about anyone else.
2)After the mechanical difficulties last week, everything went so nice and smooth.
3)After I got to the midpoint of this season I knew I wanted to do an Olympic, and this just worked out so well.
4)Everything about the race was just so good that I couldn't find anything to complain about if I wanted to.