First 200m my ankle strap felt really loose. I was really scared about losing it so I just decided to not kick for basically the rest of the swim. Smart decision? Probably not. Rest of the swim was fine, I had practiced in this lake so was very familiar. Very little traffic because of the time-trial start. Did have some problems sighting off the longest "leg" buoy. I'm sure the lifeguards had seen it all by that point but I definitely made a 90-degree turn mid-swim to put myself back on course.

Check ankle strap before starting. Use clear goggles instead of tinted (I need new ones anyway).

I don't use a heart-rate monitor, but I think my HR would be laughably low for the swim. I just get out there and cruise along thinking "my what a nice day for a swim!". Obviously need to improve my mental aggressiveness in the water.

I also need to work on engaging my core a little more to keep my hips higher. This will only improve with added stroke-work in the pool. Who doesn't love that!!!

Well. It's T1. Nothing exiting. Wetsuit came off fine and mount was actually really good for not being flying.

It seems like flying mounts are the "flip-turns" of triathlons. I'll figure it out someday.

Well if you don't set a PR on this bike course then you are just plain not trying hard enough. There are NO HILLS. NONE. Which actually kind of sucked for me because I'm one of the few that enjoy a little bit of elevation gain. I just sat in my drops the whole time and tried to motor home. Felt some stomach upset at mile 8 but it eventually went away. I remembered to drop a gear coming into corners which felt great.

For stomach - no dairy for breakfast. There was some in my rice and coffee and, while delicious, just has no place in my system on race day.

For speed - I need to remember to challenge myself in the gearing. I stayed in the big ring up front the whole time as planned, but with 5 miles to go started to challenge myself with harder gears behind and, lo and behold, I WENT FASTER! Imagine that! I feel like I could have put the hammer down a little more just by continuing to experiment with gear selection throughout the course. Still, it was my fastest MPH this year.

T2. As usual. In and out.

Two loops around the "city" streets of Stepfordian New Town. First mile I always just try to get legs under me. Worked well here and continued my pace for the next three. Was really disappointed that there was no one to sprint against at the end - the announcer was doing a great job and I wanted to race!!

My run training has really slacked off since the SLTC runs ended. Need to get back on that horse for sure. But I was happy with maintaining my 5k pace from last month's race into this longer distance.

Um....eating?? Walking around? In sweatpants!


Here comes some soul-baring...I was not motivated for this race. Even though the venue is great and so close, the flatness of the course just does not inspire me. Sorry! Therefore my mind was not so much in the game and I came out of the race thinking "well, at least it was a good workout". I know to be faster I will need to put in some serious mind-body work and with the place that I am in training, it's just not happening. Not sure if I'm ok with that or not. I need a new challenge!


Venue and organization were above average. Pretty much the key to my heart from a race-directing standpoint is to post the results online ASAP. And these ones were up before I got home! Great work Ultramax!! Everything was logically laid-out and it was easy to perform as an athlete. Good work Big Shark! The only thing I would improve is the swim exit - very rocky/slippery/muddy/annoying.