Started wide (right) and headed straight for the far buoy. Plan was to go hard for the first 300m before settling in for the rest of the swim. There were two small lead groups (each with two swimmers) and then a group of ten of us. We ended up together by the first buoy and took the remainder of the lap steady but not really hammering. I could have gone faster but everyone was waiting for someone else to take control and drag the group around. As we came through the first lap I figured someone would take over but the pace still stayed about the same. There was no reason to try to break away so I stayed on the feet in front and enjoyed the draft.

Not much; really good swim even though the pace was a little low.

Of the group of ten, I was the first out of transition; I had my glasses and helmet on and was on the run before anyone else was even reaching for their bike. I did a great flying mount but one of my pedals flipped over and I almost hit the curb when I looked down. Should have just riden and gotten it sorted out later.

Just ride rather than look down.

After I got going on the bike I was feeling really good. Jay passed me shortly after transition and I worked to keep in just in front. I was focused on staying the legal distance back and then anytime his pace fell off, pass and hold onto the pace I wanted to go. Shortly after the ride started it began to rain and this led to lots of crashes as the ride progressed. The first lap went well, a little slow but I was feeling good and mainly staying close to Jay. Sean passed me and was riding to the left (and a little all over the road) so I just stayed behind him the legal distance. I thought he was going to pickup the pace but he stayed close to Jay and his pace was a little erratic. I wanted to pass but I didn't want to go on the inside so I just followed his pace through the second lap. As we came back into the park, he came a little hot into the first 90* turn, touched the brakes and went down; I was far enough back to stay clear and then got back to Jay. I was riding harder than I normally would but didn't want to let anyone get too far away so stayed on the pace. I focused on staying aero as much as possible and only got up to take the turns (slowly) and then got out of the saddle to hammer back up to speed. When the open wave joined us on the course Parker was moving quickly through the pack (he swam high 19) and he passed Jay and I headed back into the park. Unfortunately with a solid lead he took the third 90* turn in the park a little too fast and went down as well. Jay (who coaches Parker) slowed to make sure that he was okay so I went by and kept working hard. With two crashes just in front of me (and many more I would learn of later) my goal became just keeping the rubber side down and riding hard when the road permitted. Despite the course with lots of slow turns and the wet pavement, my bike computer still had me over 35km/h so I was very happy with the ride. Came back into transition well just behind Jay and got my feet out and ready to hit T2.

Not much; really good ride.

I had a little difficulty with my shoes (forgot my powder at the university) and then almost ran out without my bib. Once I got that straightened out I was headed out on the run.

Powder and grab bib the first time.

The run started hard and didn't get much better. I felt like I was shuffling through the first lap but I was putting time into Jay (which is weird). I was slowly reeling Jay in and when I saw him stop to walk I knew he was in trouble and this might be my day to hold him off. As I went by Jay I then focused on trying to reel in Eric; he had beaten me the last couple of races and I just wanted to run him down. I worked well through the first two laps and was brining him back; I had narrowed the gap between us to about 30 seconds was was feeling strong to bring him back. However, I lost a little focus on the third lap and just seemed unable to get my pace back up. I focused on running faster and staying loose and in control but nothing was working. Back to the shuffling feeling and trying to hold on. As I started the fourth lap I started to feel a little better but still couldn't couldn't get the pace up. I saw Eric at the last turnaround and realized that I wasn't going to be able to reel him in and just after the final turnaround, I saw Jay just behind me and started fighting just to hold him off. With less than 1km to go Jay reeled me in and went by fast. He invited me to go with him but he just had too much finish for me. I came back into the finish area, and was running hard; quick shoulder check to determine whether anyone was behind me and with nobody there, just cruised through the finish.

I knew the run was going to be hard based on my ride effort (especially the out of the saddle hammers up to speed) but I didn't want to rely on having to run lots of people down. As a result, I knew my run would suffer but tried to strike a balance. I was hoping for a 40:xx run and would have been happy with a 41:xx but to run 42:39 (including transition) was a little disappointing. However, even though I only had the 15th best run on the day, nobody behind me caught me on the run and the only person who passed me was Jay right at the end so I'm okay with how it played out.

Stretch and then easy ride back to the university.


Pretty solid race; just more training.


Very happy; wanted to go under 2:15 but a few factors resulted in being a little slower. Despite the non-wetsuit swim, rain on the bike and a run that was a little long I was pretty close.