I felt good during this swim. It felt very crowded for most of the way which I didn't really like. The first 100 yards were definitely super crowded, then until just after the turnaround it was ok, but then the next wave started to catch us and I was getting kicked, etc. I managed to draft off someone for about 60% of the swim and I was really happy with that since this is the first race I can honestly say I used drafting to my advantage. I wanted to hit the beach around 30 minutes. Looked at my watch when my toes hit the sand: 29:11. Goal accomplished! My dad was close to the beach and knew I wanted to be around 30. He yelled out 31 minutes, but I had enough energy to yell back and correct him with 29:11, so I guess I was feeling good!

Not much. I felt great.

My wetsuit came off super fast. It was like I had smeared myself in butter or something (minus the bad smell). It was awesome!

I kinda think this could have been a few minutes faster. I wanted to hit 20 mph average for the race. Felt pretty good. Pushed it hard. Past a whole bunch of people (including two girls from my age group). From miles 15 to 19 I was dragging a little, but I had a GU and that slightly energized me. There were a lot of sharp turns, U turns onto small paths, etc that slowed down portions of the course. Overall, decent bike. I like my new orbea :)

Push through the slump in energy in the middle.

I debated about pulling an extra GU out of my bag that I had not left out in transition and opted against it, so this took a few seconds. Overall pretty quick transition for me.

I felt like I was really slow, but my time was good so I guess no complaints. I was chasing this women for 3 miles until the turn around. She had a bright yellow tri top on and it was just calling my name and making me run faster. I finally caught her at the turn around and she had slowed way down. I told her "you're my rabbit so you better not slow down!". I was joking, but she gave me a look that made me think she didn't appreciate my humor 2 hours and 20 minutes into a race :)

I gotta get more running in. See overall comments

The post race food was awesome. My bro was doing the 1/2 IM so hung out, ate, and waited for him.


I am super happy with the way this turned out. I had knee surgery 8 months ago (ACL replacement). I thought not only was my fitness not back to where it was but that my knee just wasn't up to snuff. I've been only running 3 times a week (which is very little running for me) and my longest run preparing for this race was 5.8 miles. In February I was still on a run/walk plan for rehab of the knee surgery. I seriously could not be happier. Before the race I told my dad I'd do cartwheels if I beat my time from last years oly (which was before the knee injury and surgery) and somehow I managed to come in more than 1 minute faster. I passed on the cartwheels after the race but am VERY VERY happy. Looking forward to 2 more sprints this summer and possibly another olympic!