Before the race I was worried about the lake being rough. But on race day the wind was out of the south which meant the lake would be calm. And it was. It was flat, almost swimming pool like.

I was in the 2nd to last wave. So I had lots of time to stand around and watch the other waves go.

This was probably the easiest open water swim I've ever done. The water was flat. The number of people in the waves was small. The swim area was wide open. No real contact at all.

I sprinted out for about 200 meters then looked for a draft. Hooked onto a guys feet for about 10 minutes or so. Then we ran into the slow swimmers from previous waves. I lost my draft. After this I just swam on my own. My swimming was straight and comfortable. Hit the turn to the swim exit. The exit area was shallow water and everyone was standing up and walking in. I kept swimming until the water was about 1' deep, stood up and tried to run. It was so crowded with people walking I couldn't get out to the siwm exit. I actually bumped into people trying to run out. This was the most contact during the swim.

Hit the timing mat and checked my watch. My watch was full of water. Crap. No time, no HR. I'll be racing naked.

Swim harder. I find it hard to judge how hard I'm swimming in open water.

Saw the wet suit strippers. Ran down the line to the end, pointed to two guys standing there then plopped on my butt, legs up. Suit off. Thanks!

While running through T1 I was thinking what to do about my HRM. Nothing really to do but strip it off and race on RPE. I quickly took off my watch and the HRM strap. Grabed my bike and took off. Good tranisition. It might seem like a long time for T1, but the transition area was huge. It was a long run from my bike rack to the bike out.

Nothing.

I rode the bike course last summer so I knew what was coming up - lots of flat roads with 2 bridges. Headed out of T1, made the round-about and saw my wife and the rest of my support crew. They were great.

Without my HRM, I needed to be careful not to over cook the bike ride. The wind was out of the south, so we had a tail wind going out. Just sat in and rode easy heading out on Hwy 90. I saw the first pros coming back in and thought they looked like they were riding slow. I figured the head wind was stronger than I thought and that I would be riding in that headwind soon enough. Menatally prepared for that eventuality.

Being in the 2nd to last wave, I had lots of athletes to pass. Used the legal draft to hop from ride to rider. Hopping from rider to rider was fun and kept me menatlly focused on the bike ride.

At the first U-turn I got a taste of the head wind. With the tailwind I was easily holding 25-27mph. Into the headwind my speed dropped to 18-21. But, I felt good riding into the wind. My RPE felt comforatable.

Made the turn onto Hwy 11 and had the tailwind again. The course started becoming more crowded as the slower athletes started piling up after the first section into the headwind. Made the U-turn and now had about 20 miles of headwind back to T2.

Kept my RPE comfortable, in the small chain ring, spinning about 95 rpm. I started heating up during this section. Grabbed a bottle of water at an aid station, drank a couple swallows then dumped the rest on my head, back and legs. Continued spinnning into the wind. I eventually hooked up with two other riders in a legal draft. This gave me a mental boost. We stuck together for about 10 miles. At the last aid station I lost them. I could see the first bridge ahead and knew we were getting close to T2. Crossed the 2 bridges and headed into T2

Nutrition - 2 bottles of Infinit (brought 3, but only drank 2) ~500 caloires. At one point I did start feeling some discomfort in my stomach. Drank a couple swallows of plain water. That helped.

The ride went well. Not much different to do. I beat my goal time of 2:45.

Nutrionally, I will take more plain water. I think the Infinit sits in my stomach too long and plain water would help.

Long T2. Had to pee bad. Knew there was no way I was going to run in that condition. Hit the port-o-potty.

Pee on the bike.

My HRM was dead and I didn't have a watch to check my run pace. This run was based on RPE. Biking on RPE was easy for me as I have more experience cycling than I do running. So I decided to start out real easy. I didn't want to over do the run.

I got going on the run without any problems. My legs felt fine. The first mile down Lakeshore seemed to go by fast. At about the 1 mile mark I saw a BT jersey up ahead. It was Trail_runner whom I had not met. I said Hi and introduced myself and continued on.

Heading out on Lakeshore we were running into the wind. The temperature wasn't an issue going into the wind and it was overcast. But, when we made the u-turn and ran with the tailwind it became very hot. Then the clouds started parting leaving the sun to beat down on us. I had water at every aid station and dumped a cup on my head also.

Saw Michele and the rest of my support crew on Lakeshore. Actually saw them twice on this out and back section. They had setup a picnic under a tree on Lakeshore. It looked like a really nice area. I could have just stopped and sat for a while, but had business to take care of.

Once we turned onto Wisner I knew we would get relief from the sun by the trees covering the road. Wisner to City Park was nice. City Park is mostly tree covered. Esplande is completely a tree covered tunnel. Very nice.

At about mile 5 I was pacing behind a couple other runners. At mile 6 I had an espresso GU and decided to pick up the pace. I left my pacers behind. The first half of the run I was feeling pretty good; running at RPE of about 6-7.

I hit City Park. Still feeling good. Legs were aching but no sign of the ITB problem I had been having. Still drinking water at every aid station. Tried some Gatorade at one aid station, but that didn't sit well in my stomach. Half way through City Park, there was a bag pipe band playing. They started playing Amazing Grace. I was like Nooo, you're supossed to be playing some Scottich marching pipe and drums song. Not Amazing Grace. It sounded like we were at a funeral.

Exited City Park onto Esplande. This street is amazing. It's like a tunnel of oak trees. Completely shaded. People were out of there houses sitting on the side of the street watching and cheering us on. Most had beer and other drinks set up and of course lots of food. In New Orleans any reason is a good reason for a party. The folks on Esplande had a party going. It was awesome.

My legs were really hurting running on Esplande. I really wanted to stop but just kept Continuous Forward Motion. I'm really pleased with my mental game during this race. Mentally I was focused and positive. I was able to keep going even though my legs hurt and I wanted to stop.

About half way down Esplande through the tree tunnel I could see the light tan wall of the French Market where Esplande ended. That's where we turned right onto Decatur and the finish line. I just kept focused on that tan wall at the end of the tunnel. Picked up the pace then made the right onto Decatur. 6 blocks to go. The crowds grew thicker with each block. The music and noise grew louder. About a block or so from the finish I was in a gauntlet of people. The crowd had squeezed into the road so tight that I could high-5 both sides of the gauntlet just by stretching out my arms. It was awesome.

Then I hit the baracades and the carpeted finish line. Saw my wife and the rest of my support crew. High-5'd them and crossed the finish line.

I had no idea what my time was so I looked back and saw 6:41. Minus the 1:24 delay in my start meant I was somewhere around 5:15. Not bad. I really hoped to go sub 5, but with the wind on the bike and not running in January and February because of ITBS today wasn't the day for sub-5.

Put a spare watch in my transition bag. I have a sport watch I use for swimming and had that been in my transition bag I could have grabbed it and had a watch to time my splits.

None. I was spent. Not as bad as Longhorn last year where I ended up in the med tent. But I was done. Stood around outside the finish area waiting for my support crew to find me. Drank some water. Talked a while.

Walked through the athlete food area - they had water, gatorade, cookies, fruit, pizza and Abita Beer. Had to have an Abita.

Then had the best recovery food ever - cafe au lait and beignets at Cafe du Monde. While eating and celebrating with Michele and my support crew we could watch the other athletes finish. Awesome.

After all of this, I changed into dry clothes. Then we walked over to The Republic for the awards ceremony. More free Abita Beer and wine. Saw the pros get their awards. I was 14th in AG and held a slight hope that a Clearwater spot would roll down to me. But, no such luck. It did roll down to 7th or 8th, I think.


Not enough long runs. I suffered an ITBS injury on Dec 28. Didn't run during January or February. Have to give some credit to Dr. Troy Van Biezen. He fixed me up and got me ready to race.


Awesome. This was the best half-iron/70.3 race I've ever been to. And this race had the best finish line experience of ANY race I've been to including IMFL and IMAZ. Finishing in the French Quarter was amazing.

The race was well organized and well supported. The entire bike and run course was closed to car traffic. This is the only race I know of that has a closed course and it was so much nicer to ride without traffic.

I highly recommend this race.