Felt confident going into the swim. Tried to stay in front for the run-in, but had a few people close by. Few dolphin dives and got swimming. Opening pace felt pretty fast and I couldn't quite keep it up. More people were in front of me than I wanted, but I couldn't stay close enough to anyone to draft for more than a few moments. By about a third of the way through the swim, I slowed down a little more. I just didn't have the energy to push as hard as I thought I should. Rest of the swim was fine, just a little bit slower

not have an injured back to keep me from training since April

No problems at all. Decent transition.

Practice getting out of the suit and putting on helmet at the same time.

It wasn't long into the bike leg that my body started complaining (back, neck, hams). I wasn't able to maintain a good race pace, either. So after a couple miles I decided that if I wanted to enjoy the race and not have my body suffering for the next several days that I would take it easier the rest of the race and not worry about my time. People passed me pretty regularly (15 people all together, maybe) so I cheered them on. With my back acting up, I was only in the aero bars about 1/3 of the time.

As I was approaching the turn-around, I saw a big mass of cyclists coming my way. I thought it was the wheeled barbarian hoard or something. Turned out to be the Flanders team. They made some space and we joked back and forth about drafting off of each other.

See the swim comment

Was just having fun at this point. Took a few moments to get running shoes on bare feet, but was a pretty good T2 otherwise.

Knew I wasn't doing well standings-wise, so I just ran to run. Goofed around when my wife took a picture and then climbed a little grassy hill to go give her a kiss before running off.

Passed regularly, but I wasn't pushing myself at all. At the turn-around I was actually feeling alright since I hadn't pushed on the bike and I was able to pick up my pace a little. I actually wound up passing a couple guys who had passed me earlier on the bike. Finished up running a decent pace.

See above

See above. Oh, and my pre-race nutrition was garbage. Family went to a pizza buffet. Didn't care since I knew I wasn't trained, so I ate rather poorly. I think that definitely made a difference.


Fine race. I liked the point to point swim. Run space was a little cramped and the transition area wasn't big enough so there were a fair number of bikes leaning against the orange fence. I'd consider doing this race again some time.