This was my first time in my wetsuit or in open water for the year. It made me realize that I need to do this more often. Even though I've been doing well in the pool, I felt like it didn't translate to the open water and my stroke felt as if it was off.

I started hard with a few dolphin dives to try to get out fast and with some fast swimmers to draft off. The first bouys were only a couple hundred meters out and I wanted to swim as fast as I could around them and then fall into a draft. I swam hard, but I didn't feel like I was moving very well and my body position in the wetsuit felt so much different than I was used to in the pool.

I got around the first turns and slid in behind the guy that was next to me, but he seemed like he was slowing down. I kept looking around for a better place to be and saw someone passing the group I was in and I accelerated to get behind him. I stayed with him for a couple hundred meters or maybe until the half point when we started catching the stragglers from the previous waves. I lost my guy in traffic and couldn't close the gap and I was on my own dodging the previous waves swimmers for the rest of the swim.

Although it didn't work out, I was happy that I was able to sight and stay aware of what was going on and plan where I wanted to swim. The course must have been long because there is no way I was that slow.


Do some open water swims in my wetsuit. If weather permits, I'll do my bi-weekly continuous swims in open water for the rest of the season.

Had trouble getting my suit off my heels like usual. I never practiced this year, so this transition was as good as I could expect. The Mucinex I took that morning for my cold probably didn't help.

Practice and not be sick.

I put my new wheels on a couple days prior to the race and learned about adjusting my rear derailer for the first time by watching videos online. I thought everything was working fine, but I had trouble shifting during the race and had to settle for less than optimum gears several times. I also dropped my chain on one of the big climbs towards the beginning, but that was just being careless and not from playing bike mechanic the day before. I don't think the maladjusted rear derailer slowed me down, but it was annoying and probably not good for my drive train. I'm usually good about the "nothing new on race day" rule, but I only got the tools to move my cassette to my new wheels on Thursday.

I also had the misfortune of experiencing speed wobble while going 47 mph down one of the big hills. I had read about this phenomenon previously, so I knew to relax and put my knees on the top tube and it only lasted 5 seconds or so. A truck had pulled out in front of me and there was a cross wind, so I'm blaming those causing me tense up and cause it. I should also check to make sure my headset and wheels are tight.

Aside from the shifting and the speed wobble it was an uneventful ride. I passed lots of people at the beginning and then it thinned out.

Learn how to adjust my rear derailer better and if I do so in the future, make sure I do a real ride to make sure it works. Stop dropping my chain when shifting from the big to small ring.

Almost lost it on my dismount. I heard the announcer making a comment how it can be dangerous or tricky getting off your bike while it is still moving. Glad I could be an illustrative example for the crowd.

I was shooting for 6:40 to 6:45 and hit that goal. The start over uneven dirt under the pine trees and then the hills are brutal. I never saw anyone in my age group and just tried to keep an even pace though the run. I had some stomach cramping or stitch during the second loop and backed off a little.

I had some cookies, took a dip in the river, cleaned up my transition area and changed in my car. Went back to the finish area and had a sandwich and saw that I placed in my age group, which surprised me since last year there seemed to be a lot of speedy people here gunning for the cash prizes.
So I waited around for the awards. They took forever to get going and then they had local politicians and sponsors give their speeches and that took a long time too. After all that waiting I was disappointed that all I got was a little medal. Two years ago they gave out half price entries for the next year as the second place prize.


Fighting off a cold for the last couple days and the mostly long slow work for IMWI is not good for short course.


This course has some very good points like the nice river swim, good transition area and post race food, but the bike course being short of 40k by a few miles and the busy and sometimes rough roads it goes on are a big negative. I thought it was short last year because of a last minute course change, but this year was the same. Unless they change the course to make it a true Olympic distance I won't be back.