This was a man made lake so it was very shallow for a very long time. So many people walked it that it was tough to swim around them. The whole goal of this race was for me to show I could swim 800y straight without issue. I did it, but it was not the test I was hoping for.

This was so bad. I had my wetsuit down to my waist by the time I hit my transition area and then I could not get the left leg off. I had to sit down and tug for what seemed forever. It was stuck on my chip.

I then proceeded to put everything on randomly. Because of the temps I added arm warmers and a jacket and that took a long time on a wet body.



Practice! Keep my wits about me and do things in the order I practice them.

Since the goal of this race was to practice fueling on the bike for a stronger run I had a specific plan. Get my HR under control and then start drinking after about 10' and do so every 5'. I was sipping Infinit my marathon beverage of choice. The first 30 minutes flew by, I was going over 21mph and thought "WOW, I'm good!", then I turned a corner and knew why I was so fast, no wind. Fought 15-20mph headwinds and crosswinds for miles,kept it in the BCR and sat in the drops about 80% of the time. Legs were burning some and my stomach was starting to bother me so I hung out in upper Z3 the entire ride. Also slowed my drinking to every 10' to alleviate stomach issue (which did not work). Intake=10oz/80 cals.

Need to find a beverage I can drink consistently for a few more calories while not getting a bloated stomach. Infinit had a high gag factor during this race.

Got off my bike and was immediately dizzy. I was a little worried that it would affect my ability to run and I surmised that I must not have taken in enough calories on the bike. Threw on my shoes, looked for my inhaler (which someone five fingered) and grabbed 8oz of Carb Pro for the road.

Put my inhaler in my tri shirt instead of in T2

I noted two things, I still couldn’t feel my feet because they were frozen and I had a massive right side stitch. Drinking at the moment was out of the question, so I told myself to get on with it, breathe deeply and suck it up. When this stuff happens to me, I ignore my watch to get things under control. Focusing on pace freaks me out because I feel very slow. I took a few sips of CarbPro, tried to burp my brains out and kept running. Breathing was labored as it usually is on the run. I started feeling better so picked up the pace knowing I was almost done. Was able to go from 8:25s to 8:00s the last 2.2 miles. I ingested about 4oz/40 cals of CarbPro before dumping it. No one passed me and I passed a lot of people.

Mentally this was my best run off the bike, physically not so much.

Not get the side stitch on the bike.

Walked back to transition, checked the results, looked at the pancakes they were serving and thought "no way" given the stomach. Headed to the hotel.


Experience, this was my first Olympic having done three sprints last year. Lack of bike legs. Lack of calories--120 probably isn't enough for this distance.

I had two primary goals this race 1) a calm swim and 2) practice fueling on the bike. While the swim set up was weird, I know I can do the distance without freaking out. The fueling needs a lot more work.


Midwest sports does a great job organizing their events. I highly recommend them. The only thing I did not like was the swim, too shallow, too weird to have so many people walking.

I met a couple of BT'ers at the event which was cool. One recognized me from my avatar, but I forgot his handle! Dang.