They started the swim in self-seeded waves of 50. I wanted to get into the third (of seven) waves but wasn't able to make it into the starting chute until wave 4. With only 50 people and a lack of a defined starting chute in the water there ended up being a long two/three person deep line. I was in the outside middle in the second row. After my incredibly painful swim at Issaquah I was focused on not going out too fast and maintaining a steady rhythm.

The start was uneventful and I was able to get some open water around me after 100 meters. It was about then that I sighted for the first time and discovered just how hard the out portion of the out-and-back was going to be. Due to the self-seeded waves everyone had their choice of wearing an orange or green swim cap. Therefore, half of the people were wearing green caps. It just so happens that the turn-around buoy (and the only buoy on the course) was also green. My first sight gave me a sensory overload of green and from then on I had to sight every few strokes to make sure I was headed at the buoy and not another swimmers head (especially not a swimmer that was headed back in). Due to this I noticed myself having to make a lot of course corrections on the first half of the swim.

On the way back in I managed to pick up someones feet and decided to see if I could successfully pull off drafting on the swim. I held it for about 50 meters but I kept worrying that I was going to pull too hard and run into his feet with my head. This was messing with my rhythm so I pulled off to a side and ended up swimming next to him for the rest of the way in.

Not much. I am incredibly happy with this swim. I have been working on my swimming a ton and my confidence level in the water is 1000x where it was a month ago. I finished the swim feeling good and as an added bonus the time wasn't half bad.

There was a nice jump up a grassy ledge and then a short run up a hill to transition. This allowed plenty of time to get the legs going again and to let the heartrate settle. I don't know why but even though I didn't feel like I was over-exerting myself on the swim I was sucking air on my way into transition. It may just be due to the excitement/adrenaline.

Get bike shoes that don't have a ratchet to cut off some time. Mayyybe get used to starting with the shoes on the bike.

This was a challenging bike course. There is a hill immediately out of transition and then 3 more significant hills on the course with the last one being a quarter mile or so that peaks at ~11%.

It started out fairly well with a strong climb up the first hill and then into a nice downhill section where I could push the big chain ring. However, I under-estimated my turn radius on a really tight, curvy section of the descent and came closer than one would advise to hitting a car at ~36mph. I spent the rest of that descent happily following the riders in front of me and not making any attempts to pass until the road straightened out. During this time I lost the two stronger riders that I was trying to pace off of.

About halfway in I started leapfrogging with a few other riders that looked to be in my age group. None of us could put any distance into one another so we ended up staying together for the rest of the ride more or less.

I was really surprised when I saw 1:00 on my bike computer and I was just getting to the final crazy hill. I thought I was maintaining a lot more speed than that but I guess the hills were taking a bigger bite out of my time than I thought. I managed to power up the crazy hill out of the saddle with the help of some awesome high energy fans along the road. The 1 mile false flat into transition was a nice recovery before the run.

Nutrition on the bike consisted of ~20oz of Gatorade Endurance (125 cal) and most of one gel (100 cal).

Not almost crash. That really spooked me and slowed me way down for a few miles.

My time on the bike has suffered a bit in the past few weeks due to vacations and other commitments. I need to get back on track with my bike training and start putting in some higher mileage.

Went smoothly. Not much I would change here.

My legs did not want anything to do with the run. This was unexpected as I had done a brick on this course the weekend before without any real issues. I had to start out at what felt like a slow shuffle and work into my rhythm. The hills on the back portion of the course actually helped get my legs loosened up and my breathing under control and after the first 1.5 miles or so I was feeling a lot better.

The second lap went a lot smoother and I was able to reel in a lot of the people that passed me coming out of transition. Coming into the finish line I was feeling great about my day and was already starting to think about my next race. I was a few minutes off my goal time but it was a very challenging course and I was able to see my training pay off (especially in the swim).

I don't know. My pace was slower than I was hoping but I felt good about the run once my legs started working. Overall, I am happy with how the run turned out given how it started.

Stopped over at the food tent and was pleasantly surprised by the presence of muffins! I went through two big poppyseed muffins, a banana, and a lot of water. Stuck around to enjoy the weather and cheer on the participants in the recreational division race at 1pm.


Lack of bike focus in my training lately.