Drafted a bit better than other races this year, but still not nearly enough. Felt pretty good, but would have liked to be faster. Significant chop made breathing and sighting difficult. Was out of the water in under 40 minutes--time includes run up to transition.

Draft better. Push a bit more to stay with packs instead of all alone.

Had some difficulty with helmet straps/glasses. Always tricky with the aero helmet. But did better than Warsaw with getting into shoes (left on bike). Rode barefoot.

Practice just a little with helmet.

Felt really good for first hour. Seemed like I could go 200+ watts forever. But after halfway my wattage plummeted and I just couldn't keep it up there (although it felt like I was going hard). Speed was maintained due to strong winds. Fighting the wind was certainly taking part of my energy. Heavy wind and rain for last third of the bike. Wouldn't have been safe or possible to go much faster at the end anyway, even if I had been able to keep the watts up.
Had 2 bottles of Infinit followed by water. 2 packages of chewy stuff, several Endurolytes, a couple oz of Hammer gel from flask. Seemed about right with higher intensity like this. A bottle of HEED might have been nice.

Going too hard the first half worked out today, due to more of a tailwind (though mainly crosswinds) on the way back (plus rain and wet roads). But probably should have done more like 190-195 watts for first half.

Took a little long to wipe off feet, put on socks and shoes.

Not much considering it was raining so hard. Worked great to be barefoot for wet bike and then put on socks (blisters would have been worse if I wore wet socks through bike as well).

Started well, maybe a bit fast. Felt pretty good for first half. Slowed some miles 7-11, and then started pushing pretty hard to try to get under 4:50. Had a side stitch around 9.5, and maybe a bit of GI issues toward the end. But was basically OK--just slowing steadily although I felt like I was running as fast or faster.
Had remainder of Hammer gel flask (3-4oz), 2-3 Endurolytes, a Gu.

Probably nothing.

None.


Being a crappy swimmer. Wind on bike and fatigue in latter part of ride--lack of muscular endurance?


Finally put together a good HIM. With swim cancelled at Steelhead last year, this was a huge PR from prior HIMs (25 minutes!). Pretty satisfied. Would like to get swim closer to mid 30s, but conditions tough today. Power drop off on bike concerning--need to be pretty conservative at IMKY. Great conditions for run today.