I put myself right in the front for the beach start. We all went hard into the water and I pushed hard for the first 150m or so. I had to breast stroke for about 3 seconds to catch my breath and then kept it slow for a bit so I could recover. By the first buoy I was into my own stroke and speed. I stayed with the same pack of people for the rest of the race for the most part. It seemed I'd move up, then fall back, then move up again...and it was like that the rest of the way. I had an easier time spotting and staying straight than I had in previous races. I had the 30th ranked swim split. Bleh! I really need to improve on this leg of the race.

I should not have gone so hard from the start. Maybe seed myself back about a row or so and catch a draft. In training, I think I should work on doing 500m with the first 150m-200m going hard, hard, hard and then recover as quick as possible to my normal stroke without rest. This would simulate race conditions where you are bound to go hard at the start anyway.

Did this as fast as I could and had no issues. I came out of the water took off the cap, googles and my T1 top. Pulled the bib-john down and let the wetsuit strippers do the rest. It was about a 100m run to the transition. When I came out of the transition, Jamie was saying Stu was just 30 seconds ahead of me! I couldn't believe it. I thought he'd have 3 minutes on me after the swim. As it turns out, he had a swim time 1:09 better than me, but I made up 40 seconds in T1 alone!

I racked too far from the mount line. I picked the wrong end when I guessed where the mount was going to be. It was the late-comers who were at the far back end of the transition that ended up being the closest out and back in on the bike.

My time of 1:05:01 is my Garmin time, not the official results time that includes transitions. I thought I started pretty strong. I'm not sure the speed, because the Garmin didn't pick up a satellite for a bit. I left behind a large group of people that I exited the swim and T1 with. One guy passed me right away too. Once I turned on 22x I could see Stu about 200m ahead of me. There was the Stu, the guy who passed me, then me. We're each about 100m apart. For a few clicks it stayed like that, but quickly into the first short ascent the guy ahead passed Stu and I gained about 150m on him. Just 50m behind him, we head up another part that starts to climb for about 800m. I came up beside Stu, yelling out "Let's Go" and pointing forward. I just blew up that hill and kept going. At this point I was pretty certain that I would beat Stu in the race and was pretty happy on the bike. It's mostly uphill on the way out and we were biking into headwinds. Most times I was going 29ish kmph...I was a little nervous about how slow I was going and thought for certain a mass of people would be passing me, but it didn't happen. One good last push up to the turnaround and then it was a quick ride back. Stu was just starting the final climb before the turnaround. I was easily ahead by 3 or 4 minutes now. A couple other guys passed me on the way back, but never got out of site. On the descents back I could see 6 or 7 people all not too far ahead of me. A lot of the ride back was spent at speeds of 50kph plus. So it was fast and fun - and it gave the legs a good chance to recover somewhat from the push out.

Not too much. Maybe leave water out altogether. I hardly drink it while I'm out there. I'm too busying hammering it!

Pretty straight forward. Lost a second or two fumbling with my race belt, but my new zip laces save me time. So it was remove cycling shoes-remove helmet-socks on-shoes on-race belt-shot of gatorade-out!

I came out fast as I knew I would. For some reason the first couple clicks off the bike I do at blazing speeds. First km was 3:50. I passed 4 or 5 people. One gave me a shout of encouragement so that was nice. Second km was 3:58. Another 2 people passed. Descending into Fish Creek and was by myself for a long while. 3rd km: 4:02, 4th km 4:09, 5th km 4:06, 6th km, 4:09. I could see somebody ahead finally. Another person to catch. I look behind to notice that I have somebody catching me as well. I try to pick it up, but can't keep the legs moving. I am going faster than the guy ahead, but the guy behind passes me. 7th km time: 4:16...eep, I'm slowing down. I try to push harder but I'm not going faster. The guy ahead of me I pass just about at the 8k mark. 8th km time: 4:20...ugh. I'm willing myself ahead. 2k to go...just move! We start running back up out of the valley. Long hill up. I'm pushing, I see another guy ahead. He was just passed by the racer who passed me earlier. Is he within striking distance? I wonder. My legs are burning running up the hill. 9th km time: 4:46...ugh. Even with the hill it would of been nice to see that lower. I recover for a bit at the top and keep going, keep going, keep going. Moving into a final turn before the stretch the guy ahead is 200m ahead. Can I catch him? I pick it up. I move into a fast run. I'm catching him...Not much more than 100m to go. I move into a full out sprint. He is unaware of my approach and I blow by him within a meter or two of the finish line. I feel for the guy because this happened to me last year, but a race is a race. My run split was the 7th fastest of the day and 2nd fastest in my AG at 41:34. The winner was 39:06 which is definitely a time I think I could beat with another year of training.

I'm disappointed with my last 4kms. I was feeling very strong until then. I'm not sure if this is a lack of nutrition or fitness. But, my goal for the season was to lay down a sub 45:00 in a race so I did that easily in the first race of the season.

I sucked back a lot of water and gatorade as I waited for Stu to finish. He crossed the finish line over 17 minutes behind me. It turns out the race between us was a little lop-sided. Results were soon posted. I was 10th overall! Oh man I was excited. 4th in my age group and a total time of 2:18:12, beating out the 11th place guy by 1 second.