in the spirit of positive thinking... i kept saying to myself as i entered the water... "don't suck... don't suck... don't suck..." after last year's swim debacle... i told myself to just take it easy.. breath more often... swim straight... and to not push too hard... just get to the first buoy and see how you feel... after a little pre-race harassment from djdavey i inched my way towards the front of the wave... and we were off... i felt like i was in a pinball machine until about 25 yards past the first buoy... there were arms and legs coming from every direction... when i was about 15 yards from the first buoy someone literally swam right over me... right across my back at a complete 90 degree angle... i looked up and i was headed straight for the buoy... so i have no idea where they were going...?!? after turning around the first buoy i was boxed in and couldn't go anywhere... so i breast stroked for about 10 seconds to assess things and find an opening... from there i just kept going... stopped the self talk of "don't suck..." and started telling myself that i'd soon be on the bike... was drifting a little to the left but kept pretty much on course... was picking off 4th wavers after rounding the second buoy and heading for shore.. a lot of breast and back strokers.. and kept thinking how that was me last year.. wanted to finish strong so tried pushing it hard into shore... kept looking up thinking when the heck am i going to get there...?? hit the shore and felt great... started running... hit the T1 mat at 7:46... was hoping for 7:30, but i was pleased that i kept it together on the swim and was going into T1 in much better shape (mentally and physically) than last year...

practice more OWS... and more drills... i figure the more comfortable i get in the open water the more i'll be able to push the pace and stay within myself...

wow... where to begin... feeling good running into transition... and get to bike without a hitch... notice thats its beginning to rain... and start wondering if i should cover anything up... with what...??? forget it.. just get my shoes on... start to put shoes on.. oh wait... might help to take wetsuit off first (it would have taken a while to live that one down)...!!! sent my helmet and glasses flying as i'm trying to get the wetsuit off... get it off - not very quickly... and pick up my stray items... then remember the plan to put socks and arm warmers on... try toweling off feet and arms so that they will go on easier... didnt help... especially when its raining... took forever to get my socks and arm warmers on... each one got stuck... lots of self cursing going on... finally get all my gear on... and stop for a second to try and refocus from all the T1 chaos... and make sure all my gear is there for the run... looks good... see djdavey run by into transition... figure i'll see him again soon... i better hurry... so i'm off...

everything...!!! practice transitions more... and stay focused...

all i could think about for the first couple of miles on the bike was 'f'ing socks and arm warmers'... was glad i had the socks on... probably could have done without the arm warmers though... as good as i felt going into T1... i was feeling lousy coming out... i knew that i'd have to nail the transitions to hit my 1:10 goal... after T1 i realized that goal was unlikely... however, the bike felt great overall... must have had a little wind at the back at the beginning because i settled into a pretty good pace early... and was picking people off from waves 2 - 4 for the entire ride... saw sgoehner and timed myself to where i saw him... assuming 4 minutes between waves i was about 90 seconds behind him about 9 miles into the bike... was passed twice on the bike... once from someone in my wave (#5) and someone caught me right at the end of the bike from wave #6 - he was pretty jazzed when i told him that he was the first i've seen from wave 6... the course was wet from the rain.. so cornering was a bit slower.. otherwise the course is reasonably flat (a few rollers) and fast... i generally watch my cadence but seemed more focused on my speed as i was really hoping to average above 22mph... for that reason i did not even notice that the bike route was 0.8 miles longer than last year... so it showed that i avg'd about 22 mph as i approached T2... so i ciphered that i must have been 40:30 on the bike... which would put me at 51 minutes coming into transition... i figured a one minute transition would put me at 52 minutes and a sub 1:12 was more realistic (therefore needing a sub-20 5k)... not sure why i didnt check my watch... nor hit the lap button... at the end of the bike nor at the end of T2...???

nothing... just stay focused... and not obsess over T1... it was my first ride averaging over 22mph... and a reasonable improvement over last year... so i am pleased with that...

going forward i clearly need to get stronger on the bike... and if i stick with this and want to be competitive at all i'll need to decide to drop some $$ on buying a higher end tri bike or at least look into upgrading my current bike...

obviously not as bad as T1... however, given that it was 25 seconds slower than my T2 last year... not at all pleased with it... had just put speed laces on my shoes and they were pretty tight without socks... therefore, the combination of socks and wet shoes made things a bit difficult... again... forgot to hit the button on my watch leaving T2 so i had no clue what time i started the run...

like T1... practice and be more focused...

had i not seen the results i would have thought my run was awful... i felt really sluggish from the start... and never really felt like i got into a groove... my hr was really low the entire time... and if i had to guess i would have thought i was running 7:20s or higher... but it didnt really make sense because i seemed to be picking people off at a reasonable clip... and i never got passed... i remember looking over my shoulder a few times wondering why there wasnt anyone catching me...?!? saw sgoehner on the run and he was looking strong... figured we would be close... anyway... never saw the first mile marker... finally thought to check my watch as i was approaching the halfway point... it showed around 1:03:45... i'm thinking wtf...?!? i have 6 minutes and 15 seconds (to run 1.55 miles) to hit my goal time... and i'm totally bummed out... realizing i'm even farther off my goal time than i had thought... once again, i figure i started the run at about 52:00 (having not checked my watch)... and given how i was feeling and the low hr... i thought i must have pushed too hard on the bike and was now on pace for a 23:30 5k... so the self cursing starts again... keep looking over my shoulder wondering where is everyone...?? was assuming djdavey was tracking me down and would come blowing by me at any moment... i felt like i was pushing a bit... but not all out... and given my hr i just felt like it wasnt really my day on the run... i hit the finish and the watch says 1:13:14 (which was right on with my official time)... and i figure i must have picked the pace up a bit the second half but am too pi$$ed off to do the math...

nothing i guess... keep a better attitude...??

after the run i walked around a bit... visit with more donks... and cheer some on... get some food... and keep trying to figure how i could be so far off my goal time... finally go and check the posted results... first thing i notice was T1 of 2:40... when everyone around me was 1:10 - 1:30... ouch... then i notice my bike time was 42:42...!!! once again, wtf..?!? that was way off from what i expected... i never thought that the course may have been longer - assumed that my bike computer must have been off... and figured thats why my time seemed so screwy...?? and then i see the 18:56...!!! and i do a complete double take... WHAT...?!? thinking that there is no way that is correct... not sure how... but figure that somehow 2 minutes from the run got moved over into my bike time...?? then i find out the bike was 0.8 miles longer... and everything makes sense up until the run... and given that my watch showed the same final time as the my posted time i guess i have to assume the run time is correct..!!! WOW..!!! completely unexpected... NEW 5K PR...!!! takes a while to sink in... but then i'm pretty happy to see a run time that starts with an "18"...!!! must have been the new nike lunarlite running shoes...!!!


transitions were my nemesis this race...


Mixed feelings on race result... Like most, probably tend to be overly critical of race performance... and play the "what ifs"... always focused on where i screwed up... or where i could improve... i pretty much nailed or exceeded my goals on each leg of the race... sets PRs on both the bike and the run... however, to then screw it up in the transitions is pretty disappointing... Can't really blame it on the weather - as we all raced in the same conditions... Guess I'll chalk it up to inexperience (being my third 'real' triathlon, and first dealing with the cold and rain)... I feel like I should be happier with the results and improvements over last year, but those darn transitions overshadow them a bit at the moment...

Great seeing everyone out there... and meeting some new folks as well...

Anyway... feeling better today than yesterday about the results... now back to training...!!!