This was a good swim for me. I started out middle left of the the group to get on the outside. I took Jamie's advice and tried to get close to the front to allow myself to get on feet early on. I did not, however, start horizontally as I was trying to start my watch when the gun went off.

No major contact at all in this one. I was able to get breathing good, but like others, without a warm up I felt out of breathe and fatigued for the first 150 or so. Then I settled in a felt pretty good throughout.

I was able to get on feet early, but I got ont he wrong set because the guy wasn't spotting well and went off the left away from the buoys. I pulled off and tried to get on others. I made the turn pretty well. After the turn I got on good feet and followed for a couple hundred until the guy got really pissed with me being there and hitting him every now and then. When he started trying to kick me in the head, I pulled off to the inside and got on another guy for a little while.

After I lost contact, I pretty much swam on my own for the last 400 or so. I had to do a few breast strokes to sight here and there because one buoy in particular was under the bridge and the shadows prevented me from seeing which side of the columns to swim under.

I was happy with the mental effort though. Everytime I was next to someone, I tried to get in behind them and draft when I could. As I got passed, I did the same for as many strokes as possible until I got dropped. I passed some women from the groups in front of me. I was able to take an aggressive line coming back to the finish and felt that helped my overall time.

First time being under 30 min. for 1500. Really happy with that.

More drafting if possible. Better sighting to avoid the few breast strokes I took. More breathing right.

Suit came off well. Good amount of body glide. The rubber band on the shoes needed to be stronger because they couldn't hold the shoes as they bounced around on the run out of transition. There was some flipping and flopping going on.

One salt tab and some water before heading out.

stronger rubber bands.

Pretty good bike for me. About average actually. My heart rate was around 170 the whole time which seems to be about right if I want to run strong. I could have probably pushed a little harder, but I was trying to save myself for the run.

I could have drafted more on this course as it is really stacked up and there were no officials on the course as far as I could tell.

Learning from last year, I took two water bottles with me and one HoneyStinger on the bike. Last year's heat zapped me on the run so i made sure to drink the better part of both bottles and eat the Stinger starting lap 4 to have energy for the last few little hills and the run.

The hydration plan worked well. I felt fairly strong throughout the run. Had no cramps and not problems other than fatigue.

I was able to execute the running dismount well. Some guy stopped right in front of me and pushed me into the cones. I was able to hop off the moving bike and lift the bike up over the cones by the bullhorns using my right hand as I ran around the cones on the left. Pretty quick reaction that saved me from a complete stop, or worse, a crash.

may push a little harder on the last lap. I'd like to average 23. I upped last year from 22 even to 22.4 this year. A little more effort on the bike and I think I'll be there. Depends on the heat, though.

This was a quick transition. Culd have been quicker but I over ran my rack by one and had to turn around. There was some cross traffic and I was trying to dodge and dart these people. That caused me to take my eyes off my towel. Next thing I knew, I was pulling the U-ey.

Quickly into the running shoes and hat. Had a salt tab and some water and headed out.

Leave the sunglasses in T2. I never wear the damn things running and they were an annoyance on my head.

I ran well. I was at 7:15 for the first mile. 7 flat for the second and third. The fourth saw me slow to 8. Not sure what happened, although there is a slight climb up to the Jack & Adams turn around. Now that I think about it, there might have been that extra .1 mile thrown into that sl=plit because of the 2 loop thing. Next year, I should remember that and not get discouraged. I was back around 7:15 or so for the fifth and below that for the last 1.2. I definitely slowed compared to what I am capable of on the last mile+ because of the heat. I managed a sprint to beat a guy near the end in my AG but one other was able to react to my surge and passed me on the finishing chute between the timing mat and the banner. We finished with the exact same time, though...so I'm cool with that. I didn't have a whole lot left at the end so I am happy with my effort.

Not sweat the time split for Mile 4. It threw me off my game a bit.

walk, water, found Robin and Jake. Hung out.


heat and crowds.


The race direction and organization is not the best, the website sucks. the aid stations and volunteers were not well stocked. The T-Shirt was OK but the bootleg water bottle was a piece of shit. Perhaps they have finally run out of them.