I had a decent to good swim. The deep water start was different. I was in the 5th wave, so there were a lot of people on the course ahead of me.

Me and about 100 of my closest friends treaded water waiting for the horn to sound. I started towards the right, but not on the end. It was surprisingly spaced out at the start. I have to say that I was happy to have my wetsuit on for this swim. It definitely helped with treading water for a couple minutes or so before the start.

The horn went off and we started off. I wanted to find a good draft, but the guy I started out following tired quickly. So I just did my own thing. I did catch myself drifting right once before we hit the first buoy. But being in a canal, it was hard to get too far off course.

Once I cleared the first couple hundred yards, I was by myself. But once I got to the buoy, I caught up to the wave in front of me. I had to negotiate other swimmers the rest of the way.

The canal had a fair amount of weeds in it. I often caught some in my hands. Once I got some on my head. But it was fine. I'm kind of used to weeds and the like from my time in Virginia. The river there is not all that unlike today's race course.

At about the first buoy, I found myself laboring. I just focused on trying to settle down and just stroke. I was able to do that. Relax. Breathe. Good. Now swim and pass more people.

I did pass a lot of people from the waves in front of me. I was able to keep a good pace and keep at a good effort and intensity level. I have to say, though, that I was kind of glad to be done with the swim.

The boat launch ending was curious. It was really deep, then all of a sudden the water was knee deep. I got up at that point and started running.

On the run to TA, I was able to get my wetsuit top off well. Goggles and cap off easily too.

I felt like I might have more efficient on the water. It was a good swim. But I feel like I could have done a bit better. My watch had me with about 12 minutes even in the water. Thats about a 1:30/100 yard pace I think. Thats about the pace I swim mid-length distances in the pool.

T1 was fairly efficient. I had the 69th fastest T1 time. Once at my spot, I sat down and pulled off my wetsuit well. I dried off my feet with a hand towel. Socks then bike shoes on cleanly. Stand up. Sunglasses and Bike helmet on fine. Grab bike and run to the exit. I got held up a touch by some slower bike runners.

Nothing. Very clean transition

I set a PR bike pace by about 1mph on this course. So it was a very good ride for me.

I also used my new wheels in a race the first time here. I have little doubt that they helped. I'd guess about 0.5 mph was gained from them. The other 0.5MPH was from a relatively easy bike course and the most riding that I've done before so far this year.

Once out of transition, we had to go on narrow, cone-lined road. It was single file and I was behind a couple of women who were going slower than I wanted. We went across the tarps and onto 5&20. Finally, I could get going. And I was quickly going about 22mph.

I passed people pretty much constantly on the bike. It was most prevalent in the first few miles, but the entire ride I had people I went past. I only got passed by about 5, one of whom was Curt Eggers.

Onto 96A. It was a long uphill. But the wind was behind us. I was going about 26mph here. It did get a bit steeper in parts, so I occasionally slowed down. But I don't believe I went under 18 mph on 96A.

The road did bend to the right some and brought the wind to more of a cross. It was very gusty, and there were a couple of occasions where I got out of aero and to the drops for safety.

We turned onto Yale Farm Road and went towards the lake. Dead into the wind. This road was the primary downhill, but the wind kept speeds in check. I was able to stay in aero for much of this stretch.

Down to East Lake Road. The wind was cross, so I spent about half my time during this stretch in drops instead of aero. About halfway down this road, I could feel some fatigue setting in. Because it was generally unchanging slope, you spend a lot of time in the same position. I was getting tired of being in that position.

I wasnt going to slow down though. And we turned back onto 96A for the long downhill back to the Park. We also picked up the cones again. So it was much more narrow, only enough for 2 across. Passing required communication and some patience. We made our way down to 5&20 and then the short jog back to the tarp and park.

Once in the park, I actually passed a couple more people. Made good time back to transition. Hopped off the bike and ran to my spot.



Not much. I set a PR by about 1mph on average.

One thing that I purposely tried today was not bringing gatorade or other nutrition on my ride. I only took a couple sips of water the entire ride. I'm still debating with myself whether this impacted my run or not. The coming run was surprisingly tough. Was that because I was a touch dehydrated and short of carbs?

I finished 99th overall in T1. I thought I was fairly efficient with the shoe swap. I did have touch of trouble racking the bike, but nothing major. Helmet and glasses off ok. Visor on ok. Grabbed the race belt and put it on running to the exit.

Not much.

I did not like my run. I felt slow and was laboring much of it. My hamstrings were really grabbing me coming off the bike. They did ease up some by the time I passed the splash pad.

There were times on the out leg when I wanted to stop and walk. But I told myself I wasnt going to do that. You WILL keep running.

Just before I hit the water station, I saw Jackjack coming back on the return leg. She looked like she was working hard and not having the best of time.

Out towards the end of the out part was the BT water station. It was GREAT seeing so many smiling, cheering, friendly faces. I did take a sip of water from Marmadaddy. I was busy with that and then felt a whole cup of water land on my chest. "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?" I thought to myself. Oh, someone is dousing people. That felt good.

I sipped a bit more, then got a bit of revenge and splashed Rstocks in the legs. It was funny to see him jump.

I worked my way around the loop and came back through the water station. I saw that it was Kam who got me on the out leg. This time through, I got 4 or 5 cups in the chest. Ok, target practice on Rob! :) It actually felt good as I was pretty warm by that time. But my top and front of my pants were soaked.

I did my best to pick up my pace on the rest of the run. Having the wind at my back helped some. But I didnt have any gas on this run. It was a struggle the whole time. I never felt strong or in control on it.

I got passed by a couple of people in my age group in the last half mile. That sucked, but c'est la vie. I pushed hard to the end and crossed the finish line as best I could.

My effort was high here. What I need to figure out is if not taking calories during the race and only a few sips of water made an impact on this run.

I was hoping for something closer to 8:00 pace. I was a bit disappointed to only do an 8:17.

In looking at the results, I had the SLOWEST run of the top 100 finishers and 2nd slowest of the top 125. Its pretty clear where I need to improve to get a better final standing.

Walk off a bit and try to catch my breath. Once settled, drink a lot of water and shovel in calories. then get together with friends.


Last weekend, I had a "Boys weekend" and ate and drank way too much. For training at least. It did have an impact today. But overall, I'm very pleased with this race. I set a PR bike pace. Had a solid swim and not terrible run. So I can't complain too much.

A good, solid race.


This is a very good race. Very well attended. Very well organized.