Time: 26:19
Event rank: 38
Place after event: 38

My actual swim time was 25:19. The remaining time was spent between the water and the timing mat at T1. My expectation was a 25-minute swim, so I was happy.

The collegiate wave went right after the elites, so that was pretty cool. We would have clear water ahead since there was no way we would catch up to the elite wave.

I decided my tricks for the swim would be as follows:
1) Dolphin dive A LOT for the start and finish, because the water was shallow enough.
2) Do those backstrokey turns to get around the buoys quickly. I had to make sure I had room, because I never tried it in a race before.
3) Take off the wetsuit before T1--right after I get out of the water. The run to T1 was long, and wetsuits dry quicker than people think. If you take the suit off immediately, it comes off more easily.

I was confident that even if my competitors were faster than me, they weren't as clever :) So, I was seeded all the way to the right of our group--which turned out to be the inside track. The horn went off, and I started my dolphin dive madness. I did maybe 8 dives, and then looked over my shoulder. I had a 15 foot gap over the rest of the group! Sweet! I probably could have gone for a few more dives, but I felt weird out there all alone. I didn't know if dolphin diving was frowned on by the race directors either, so I started swimming.

Man, it was great being in the lead for the swim. Nothing but clear flat water. I could see the buoy clearly and I didn't have to sprint at the beginning at all. I just fell into my rhythm. At the first buoy I used my fancy turn, and it worked great. I gotta keep using that move. I flipped over for backstroke sometimes to monitor the situation behind me--it just seemed so weird to be where I was. No one could get up to draft me the whole way. So it was me, a lot of water, and then the pack of everyone else.

I picked off maybe 3 elites in the swim who were struggling. And a couple studs from the wave after me caught and passed me. When they went by I tried to draft, but I didn't stay on their feet well. Oh well. Halfway through someone from my wave caught me. I tried to draft off of her for a minute, and she was going just the right speed, but she was way off course. As soon as faster feet from the next wave came along, I tried to switch. It was a dumb move because I couldn't stick with the new feet, and that girl was out of the water before me even though she was off course.

In the last quarter or so of the swim, I backed off the intensity a bit. I was preparing to defend my position on the bike and run, so I didn't want to redline it on the swim.

When we came in for the finish, I started dolphin diving again. But, for some reason I felt bad doing it again--like it's poor sportsmanship since I'm at the front. So I stopped diving earlier than I normally would. Oh well, it was a really tiring thing to do anyway. So I tried to run out of the water while it was still above my knees. That was REALLY hard. My quads and hips definitely felt it. By the time I stepped onto shore I was basically walking and breathing really hard from going through that water at the end.

Oh yeah, I didn't take the wetsuit off early, as previously planned. I don't know why. Part of it was that the course was roped off and lined with spectators. I would have had to hop the rope somewhere to get out of the way.

So, I finished 2nd in my wave. Not far at all behind 1st place and quite a bit ahead of everyone else.

I probably could have swum faster, but I think backing off was the right strategy.

I definitely should have kept dolphin diving at the finish. I always do that until the water is like 2 feet deep, so this was my first time trying to run out of the water. It was not the right decision.

Time: 1:24
Event rank: 33
Place after event: 31

So I took my wetsuit off after a very long (minute-long) jog to my rack. Fortunately it still came off really easily. The transition was really without incident, so that was good.

There was a long run to the transition exit with my bike shoes on, because my rack was way at the back. But, that run went well, and I clipped in easily. I actually passed an elite who was doing a flying mount, because she had to fool around with her shoes while riding. Maybe running with the bike shoes on can actually be faster.

I was the 1st person out of T1 in my wave. I saw the gal that beat me in the swim still at her rack when I was leaving. So I was back in 1st place!

Maybe learn to do a flying mount in the future to get a few seconds.

Time: 1:10:25
Event rank: 43
Place after event: 32

Well, I didn't have many tricks planned for the bike, other than the things I do in every race. I guess I should note that I used a wheel cover in the back, even though the course was very hilly. It had about 1000 feet of climbing total, which was still low enough for a disk I thought.

My goal was to do about 215 W and 21 mph. I figured that would let me keep something in my legs for the run. Aside from that I wanted to keep track of any people in my wave who passed me here. Fortunately, none of them ever did. My bike wasn't the fastest (4th in the wave), but my gap from the swim was enough to keep everybody behind me.

I picked off a handful of elites during the bike. Some of them were pretty aggressive up there. Like, they went wayyy to the other side of the road to get an advantage on the turns, and a couple of them near me spent a lot of time drafting. I think it was just a few bad apples who were having a bad bike and were a little desperate. I laughed because I would still crush them in the run after all their tomfoolery :) I was actually pretty passive toward the elites, but I would move to pass them if I saw them standing to climb the many hills on the course. I climb well, so I interpreted their standing to mean that they were struggling and I took advantage.

A section of the course has a good stretch of loose gravel. I rode the course Wednesday and flatted here, and then continued to flat and wound up stranded. So I was worried about this section. Fortunately, nothing bad happened. Two guys ahead of me got flats from it though.

When I rode the course Wednesday, I also took a wrong turn, so today that turn was still in my brain. I really wanted to turn the wrong way. So when I came to it there were things all over the road that said "left turn, left turn." Some people were right behind me, so I pushed to keep them from passing before the turn. And then I turned right. I felt pretty stupid and lost like 4 places. Fortunately with the hills I could work my way back up.

When we turned back onto Schneider, the race suddenly became really fast. I was cranking at 35 mph, and a bunch of the elites still cruised by me. It wasn't really a downhill either--just a tailwind I guess. Actually probably all of the elites that I previously passed got ahead of me again here. It was about mile 21, and my average power said 216 W. I decided at that point to lighten up on the pedals and prepare my legs for the run. I kept the people that passed me in sight, but I just didn't go fighting them for position anymore. By the time I finished, my average power had dropped to 206 W, so I must have really backed off. My speed stayed the same though--21-ish mph.

Oh yeah, one note about nutrition. I ate a GU a couple miles into the bike and one after about 10 miles. I planned to eat a 3rd one about 10 minutes before the end, but my stomach wasn't empty and I wasnted to avoid the possibility of cramps on the run. I drank water throughout the bike ride.



Nothing really. It was an excellent bike for me, strategically. I think biking the course earlier in the week helped a lot, and anytime there are hills I tend to do better.

Time: 1:06
Event rank: 53
Place after event: 32

We went into transition the same way we had exited before, which meant I had a long way to my rack. Fortunately I busted out my next trick: the flying dismount. It worked very well. I got my shoes on and off I went. When I left transition, one guy in my wave came in and racked his bike, so apparently I was close to being passed.

Nothing.

Time: 43:09
Event rank: 10
Place after event: 14

I expected some people to bike faster than me, so my plan was to win this thing in the run. My goal was to go about 43 minutes. I expected my competitors without a running background would do about 48 minutes, so a 5-minute advantage should make up for whatever time I would lose on the bike.

I also ran the course on Friday to prepare. It was a really hard course. Lots of hills that just keep going. The majority of the course was on grass and trails, so I thought I was a real clever guy when I decided to bust out cross country spikes for the run. Yeah, that was going to be my ultimate trickery, because I've never seen anyone in spikes in a triathlon before (although XTerra triathletes apparently use them).

So, off I went. My legs felt very good at the start of the run, and I was all psyched up by my spikes. I passed the handful of elites that were right ahead of me during the bike, including one guy who had been drafting like crazy. So long, cheater! After a mile into the run I was all alone. I didn't see anyone ahead of me, and I had a few hundred yards on the next person behind me. I usually like to be chasing someone, so I didn't like this situation. I tried to stay focused even though I was by myself and keep pushing the pace. The hills burned my legs up, but I knew that I had 1st place all but guaranteed as long as I could keep moving.

Most of the run was exposed to the sun, and it was hot today. So at each aid station I dumped water on my head. Sometimes I drank gatorade too for good measure. I was able to stay cool pretty well.

When I finished about 5 kilometers, I harpooned a wood chip on one of the left lateral spikes. That made me pronate a lot and it was jacking up my ankle. The spikes didn't have any heal or arch support to begin with. After 30 seconds I stopped and yanked out the wood chip, but I think the damage was done. My left ankle hurt real bad for the remainder of the run. It was almost to the point of survival mode out there. I started to think that spikes weren't so clever after all, since I couldn't run fast if I was hurting anyway. At this time I have no conclusion on whether they were an advantage or a disadvantage.

The final 5K went fine except for the pain. I checked behind me now and then and didn't see anyone, although I knew there were 3 or 4 guys close together a few hundred yards back. I guess they weren't gaining on me, so that was good. I felt confident that no one could get me at about the 4 mile mark, and just cruised in. There was a woman from the sprint ahead of me near the finish. I decided not to sprint and let her finish first, since I'm just that nice of a guy.

So, all had gone according to plan. I won my division, even though the other athletes ran faster than I expected. The 2nd place runner in my division was one second behind me. That one second = spikes!

Maybe wear flats for a run this long. For a sprint tri I would definitely use the spikes again. For Olympic I could either way.

I had a lot of water and a slice of pizza. Then I stretched all my muscles. I would have jogged, but the run jacked up my feet. I had a lot of blisters. I talked to a bunch of donkeys and met a few more. I got into the lake again for about 5 minutes just to cool my legs. I had 2 beers. I realize that I didn't take in many non-beer calories after the race, so that was probably a mistake.


Hurting my ankle during the run. It feels fine afterward, actually, so I'll be running again real soon.

I hit my expected times for all 3 sports almost dead on, so that was good. I would have been happier if it were a more well-rounded race, just because I have been working to be less of a runner and more of a triathlete in these races. My rank for everything except running was in the 30s, 40s, even 50s. But then I threw down a 10th-place run to bring me to 14th overall at the end. This race was definitely weighted toward the run for me.


This was a nice race, even though the swim course was a little nasty and shallow and the bike course had a gravel hazard. There were volunteers everywhere. Tons of them. And the courses were all very well marked with cones and spray paint. And the referees were definitely out there officiating with an iron fist, which is good.

I have two criticisms. First, there weren't very many calories available after the race. Second, the gravel on the bike course is a real problem that needs to be fixed before next year. Otherwise they did a stellar job and I would do the race again.