Started near the back of the pack and swam a couple of strokes with my head out of the water until I found some space that wasn't full of bodies. Then I put my face in the water and tried to exhale and had a really hard time doing it. I usually don't have any problems with cold water, but it took about a minute of forcing my face in the water and exhaling until I was able to start to breath.

I finally got into my stroke, but because of the amount of people on such a short race, I couldn't go for more than a few seconds without swimming on top of someone, having to pop up to change direction, then repeating.

I did have to do backstroke for about 20 seconds after getting some water in my mouth on a breath, but a little after the turnaround I found some open space and felt like I settled into a good pace. Soon enough, I felt the boat ramp with my lead hand and climbed out of the water.

Work more on open water swims. The shock of the cold water plus having to sight made the swim a lot harder than I had figured it would be. I was much more prepared this year as far as my stroke and conditioning, but still need to work on open water skills

Tried to jog up the ramp as much as I could, but the impact of landing on the little rocks wasn't feeling so good. Once I got to the transition area, I had a little trouble finding my rack, but everything went relatively well.

Be in better shape so that I am not winded and can really push it in T1.

My bike last year was where I really feel apart and I made sure in training this year that I got better at hills. Well, the training paid off and I felt confident and did well on the bike. I passed as many people as I got passed by on the hills, which was a big confidence booster for me.
About 2/3 of the way through the bike course on a dirt trail, I got my water bottle and was taking my first drink of the race. Just as I put the bottle up to my face, the guy on the bike ahead of me (about 10 feet) got sideways in some loose dirt. He was able to put his foot down and not fall, but he did come to a complete stop right in front of me. I don't exactly remember the combination of motions I went through trying to lower the water from my face, applying the brakes, and trying to avoid the bike in front of me, but the next thing that happened was me on the ground just off the trail.

I went down pretty hard and took most of the fall with my palm/ forearm. The guy behind me also went down on the other side of the trail, but luckily no one else was directly behind us. I quickly got back on the bike and did a quick assessment of my injuries. My forearm right below my elbow was pretty tore up and was bloody, but it wouldn't be a problem for the rest of the race. Then I looked at my right palm and saw that it was pretty torn up and bleeding a lot. I tried to change my grip on my handlebars to take the pressure off of it, which helped a little bit.

I got to the top of the big downhill to the finish and got into my super aero pose on a mountain bike (I am sure I looked lame, but I know I looked fast!) and flew down the hill, enjoying the benefits of gravity and passing quite a few people.

Not crash. After the crash my focus was obviously shaken a little bit and I really wish I could have kept pushing like I had previous to it.

All in all I was pretty happy with my bike performance.

Good transition, most of the time was spent grabbing water from the volunteers and washing off my palm as it was a mix of blood and mud.

Run a little harder

I remembered how the stairs right out of transition really hurt me last year after I tried to hurry up them, so I didn't go crazy going up them, which helped a lot. I was able to keep a good pace until I started hitting the hills. I would run about a third of the hill, then walk up it and run as soon as I got to the top.

I was definately feeling my calves tightening up and was getting some side stitches, which I usually don't get. I then realized that I hadn't had more than a mouthful of Gatorade during the race since I lost my bottle on the bike crash and had used any water since then to rinse the blood from my hand. Again, I feel like I lost my focus after the crash.


I think I realized that my new phase to work on is the run. I definately did not keep the pace that I was hoping to run, mostly because of the hills. I need to work on more high intensity bricks and hill training, so that I can push it more on the run and take off another 5 minutes from the run next year.

Got some fluid and oranges, found my wife and gave her a hug, then proceeded to the medical tent (which was more crowded than I expected) and got my arm and hand washed and scrubbed, which was nice and painful. But they got me all cleaned and bandaged up, so I was happy.

I then cruised around the expo area and enjoyed a beautiful day.


I definately feel that the biggest weakness was my run on the day. I think it was a mix of not enough hill training and not enough REAL bricks that contributed to this, but lack of hydration may have been a part of it.

Either way I was way excited to have beaten my time from this course last year by 28:35, which is much better than I had hoped.


Will definately be back next year, may do the Oly on Sunday. But I don't want to skip this race. Maybe both. Hmmmmmmm