Wow the swim... this was my 2nd open water race and I don't think I really got the full experience last time. I put myself in the middle and near the front (big mistake) and got ready for the gun. Once we were off I got a decent start but quickly found myself swamped in the washing machine of everyone sprinting for the 1st buoy. Almost right away I found myself, out of breath and failing with short ineffective strokes. Lots of contact but nothing mean or harmful, just 150 people trying to swim to the same spot. At the bouy I had to breast stroke a bit due to the traffic jam, and I managed to find a bit of space by going wide. After that I managed to calm down a bit, but really never felt good for the entire swim, even after finding some clear water for after the final turn. I managed to exit the water after the 500m for a walk / jog up the beach and felt really beat...

See the swim start video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHdGtWGeZMU


Way more swimming, ( I've been slacking lately with the nice weather) and more practice OWS swims with the wetsuit

The slow jog up the beach was painful, this should be a highlight for me, I'm usually pretty quick through transistion for a newbie but not this day. I also managed to trip a bit on the mats on the beach which didn't help much. the rest of T1 was great, wetsuit off no problem, found the bike ok and had a nice mount. Probably could save some time by skipping the socks, but I like racing with them.

The bike was great and definetly my best race to date. I spent a bit of time on the course over the last month or so, training on the hill and trying to get my pacing down. I felt great on the flats and had to slow down and watch as what seemed like everybody passed me going up the hill. After the hill I found myself racing with a pack of about 5 - 6 others all around the same pace. Despite best efforts there was some drafting going on, especially in the narrow bits, but for the most part the ride was clean. The last hill was a blast but I definetly felt like I was fading after putting in a hard effort down the hill and on the final flat strech along the beaches.

T2 started off with a good dismount, short of the line and I was able to keep moving well. I passed a handleful of people in the final corner but then, after missing my rack had to try and go against traffic to find my own rack. Not a big deal, but room for improvement. Things got worse after that, while trying to rack my bike I knocked over 2 or 3 others... ugh! To make things worse I felt pretty bad since they were nice bikes, I spent a good 30 seconds trying to pick up the bikes before a nice volunteer came over and told me to go and cleaned up my mess....

Learn to rack my bike without dropping others.

Either bring speed laces to the race, or learn to tie shoes properly.

The run was generally good, despite a nagging calf injury that has pretty much kept me running for the past month. km 1 and 2 felt pretty rough and slow. After that I felt pretty good and was able to pick up the pace a bit and get past about 10 or so people who were holding on about 100m or so ahead of me. The final km was hard but fast and I had a nice pickup in the finishing chute.

More consistency in my running, do some brick workouts and try to stay healthy before the race.

Overall this was a great race for me. I'm really happy with the result given the calf injury I've been fighting with for the past month.

This race was great from an organization and course point of view, the ocean swim, great bike along the beaches and UBC and scenic run. The voluneteers and organizers did a fantastic, by far the best organized race I've done. As well getting to watch (and share the course with) the Half Iron competitors including the pros and the TV cameras was really cool, I'm looking forward to the race coverage on TV at some point in the future.