The wait between the 1st wave start and mine seemed like an hour, although it was only 3 minutes! I decided it was probably smarter for me to not battle for position so I moved over to the far right side of line about 3 rows back. When we started, I jumped into a little patch of clear water as was off. There was a fair amount of jockeying for position over the first 250 meters or so, but I avoided any hard kicks to the head. I probably did not swim very good tangents, but felt pretty good about the lines I chose. I did overswim the first buoy and so I ended up rounding it pretty wide.

After passing the 1st buoy I was in a pretty good rhythm, though any thoughts of bilateral breathing were out the window today...my heart rate was going far too fast and I needed to be breathing as frequently as possible. I starting passing the blue caps of the swimmers that started in the previous waves, so I figured I was keeping a decent pace. Though in a wetsuit, I still have a very hard time gauging my speed due to the lack of feedback from the water.

I tried to keep a good, consistent pace for my strokes all the way to the shore. I swam as far as I could, then stood up and took my goggles, cap, and earplugs off. It was nice to hear and see all the spectators cheering everyone on. As I was jogging up to the transition area I knew my heart rate was pegged near my max...hopefully I didn't push it too hard on the swim!

Practice OWS more often. My sighting could use some work as well as my overall pacing. I have no idea how fast I'm going when I wear a wetsuit. Also, I'm not sure if my spiked heart rate was a factor of pushing my pace too hard or just race day excitement, but I need to control it better in the next race.

T1 felt like a blur. It took me longer than I expected to take my wetsuit bib off. My top came off easily, but the bibs got a little stuck on my heels. Although, I think the extra help on the swim more than made up for the lost time taking the wetsuit off. Other than that, nothing else took very long. I did put socks on, but I think that's gonna be a given for me.

I really did not practice my transitions, so a little practice should go a long way. Also, I may try putting more body glide on the wetsuit to make it easier coming off.

As I got on the bike, I thought to myself "ok, now my heart rate should come back down". But no! My heart had other plans today! The first portion of the bike course was a slight incline, followed by some nice rollers. Once I got to the rollers, I put the hammer down! This part was really alot of fun. I looked down at my Garmin on one downhill and it said I was going 38 mph...awesome! I tried to go as fast as I possibly could over this section because I knew there were some hills ahead. I passed a half dozen or so riders and was feeling good about the ride.

Around the middle of the course, there were a few relatively steep hills (definitely steeper than the Silver Comet Trail!). On the 2nd climb, I tried to downshift into my granny gears when my chain popped off! This had never happened in training (maybe, I need to climb more often!), but I think I handled it pretty well. I had to pull over to the grass, get off the bike, and pull the chain back on the ring. Then I had a little trouble getting moving on the hill, but finally got back going. I think it probably only cost me 30 or so seconds total, but it was disappointing at the time. I tried to shake it off and keep pushing.

I rode the rest of the course fairly hard, although I was passed by a huge number of riders! My legs felt pretty tired, but I was glad to be finished with this section.

RIDE MORE OFTEN! I feel like this is probably my weakest leg right now. I just gotta get used to riding fast and pushing the pace. Also, I need to work on cornering and mounting/dismounting the bike.

This would've been a fantastic transition. I had no problems racking the bike or getting my bike shoes off/running shoes on. My problem was that I took off running w/out my Garmin (it was strapped to the bike). Luckily, I had only run 20-25 yds or so, but I had to turn around and run back and then take the watch off the bike. All in all, in probably cost me 20 seconds or so. No big deal, I know, but 20 seconds is 20 seconds!

I need to set up a quick release band on my bike so I can quickly move the Garmin from bike to wrist. Other than that, T2 was great.

As I started the run, I could feel my legs were not fresh. I could also feel, and see on my GPS, that my heart rate was still in the mood to preoccupy me. My plan was to start at a 7:00/mile pace and gradually work down to 6:30/mile, but I knew this was not gonna happen. I decided to run more on feel than pace for the 1st mile. Surprisingly, I ended up around my 7:00/mile pace.

From then on, the rest of the race was simply a gut check! There were a few hills that really ticked me off, because I knew they were sucking every last bit of final stretch kick out of my legs! I don't know what the temperature was at this point in the race, but it started to feel like 90 degrees outside. A couple of times, I had that evil little voice telling me it would be ok to stop and walk for a while...that's why I wear an ipod during road races! Thankfully I kept running until the end, although I had ZERO kick left in me and so I just cruised through the finish line. I was just happy to be done with the pain and excited to see how I finished.

I think my pacing was fine. The things I would change all happened before the run (easier pace on swim/better swim fitness, better bike fitness). I probably need to do more, and longer bricks. All things considered, I was happy with my run time...although I've got a sub 21 min 5k in me next time!

After the race, I had a great time catching with all the ATC racers and spectators. We spent some time under a tent where I had a gatorade and a ice cold Yuengling (many thanks to whoever brought the beers). I walked around for a bit and stretched off and on for the next hour of so.


Obviously, anytime you do something for the 1st time it won't be perfect. I think my pacing on the swim may have been a little aggressive as I never was able to calm my HR down. Other than that, a few minor things here and there lost me a few seconds, but nothing major. Right now, the only thing limiting my performance is simply fitness. I think I've built a good base in the 3 sports now...now I need to start training a little harder and especially more disciplined. I have not followed a very strict training plan, but probably will now. I can't wait for the next race!


I had a blast! The race seemed to run very smoothly. I hope all my future races go this well. Thanks to all the organizers and volunteers for pulling off a wonderful race!