I started poorly due to misjudging the sandbar; I ran into the water, did two dolphin dives and then stood up to run across the sandbar. Should have been one dolphin dive and things would have worked out better. I went hard to the first buoy but felt slow and just couldn't get going. I grabbed the feet of the person in front and although they were never quite working as hard as I wanted, everytime I tried to break feww I couldn't make any headway so I just dropped in and drafted. Pretty much even split between the loops and was a little faster than last year. Still disappointing as I wanted to stand up at 23 something but another poor swim.

More swimming in July; unfortunately due to the move I just haven't had time in the water since the end of June.

Solid T1

Nothing

I just couldn't get going on the bike; I came out of the water with Tom and that typically means I had a really bad swim. This took me out of the game and I just couldn't get my head in the game. I was aero most of the time and working to stay on pace but I just couldn't hold the effort where I wanted. I was passed by several people on the bike and just couldn't respond; I was able to up the pace for a bit but I couldn't hold the effort. I felt a little better over the last 10km but otherwise I was very disappointed in this effort. I was about four minutes slower than last year on the bike.

Warmup and more miles throughout the year.

Very good; quickly out on the run.

Nothing

I felt awful throughout the run; like I was taking baby steps out of transition and then climbing the hill out of transition I felt like I was putting in the worst run I have ever had. I wasn't getting passed but just wasn't feeling good on the run. I came through the 2.5km mark at about 10:30 and figured although I wasn't on pace for a great run that under 42 would be decent. I tried to maintain focus and pace through the next 2.5km but I came through the turnaround around 23'. On the way out I saw where Parker was (solidly in first), Ryan (3rd) with Josh chasing (4th) and trying to stay clear of Matthias. At the turn I saw where my chasers were and knew that Adrian was going to run me down in short order. My goal at that point became to stay clear for as long as possible knowing that he would eventually get me. He caught me about 1km before the sprint turnaround and then I tried to stay on his heels for as long as possible. I was able to keep him in check through another couple of km and then he pulled away. I tried to run fast down the hill and keep him in sight (and by this point I knew that I was putting more time into Mark as well) but just couldn't catch anyone before the line. I hit the line with my worst Oly finish since my second season and very frustrated. I was sure I had a terrible run but looking at some of the times, I'm pretty sure the run was long (Adrian is usually a 38 Oly runner and went 42) but still disappointing to be six minutes off last year's result.

Run faster :)

Finished and grabbed water.


Swim and bike fitness; not keeping my head in the game.


As usual this race was somewhat disorganized and things ran late. Many of the volunteers were unsure of their role and the head official was very disorganized as well. Still not a bad race but can be improved.