During the mini-mussel I was nervous about being able to swim the distance, so I didn't push myself much. This race, I came in better prepared, and really tried to push myself, stroking strong and concentrating on form. So I was disappointed when I saw my pace because it was basically the same as the Mini-mussel. But when I look at how I compared with the others in my AG, I actually improved- at the mini I was 27/41, and here I was 25/41, and there were definately fewer people with sub-2:00/100 paces. So I wonder whether the course was a little longer, either in the swim or the exit run.

I was having a little more trouble sighting and staying straight while I was pushing the pace, and once had to backtrack for a couple strokes to stay on the correct side of the bouy. I need to work on my OWS technique, and get used to swimming harder.

Not too bad- wetsuit will be a pain until I get a new one. I didn't bother drying off my feet, which probably was OK (see run). I didn't stop to eat a gel this time, which saved a bit as well.

Get a new wetsuit?

The bike just sucked. I am not prepared for these little rolling hills- I don't have aero shifters so I couldn't spend much time in aero position because I kept shifting up and down. My legs were pretty tired after my effort on the swim, and felt dead. To top it off, I thought I would try drinking exceed on the bike instead of having a gel, to save time. Unfortunately I mixed it too strong, and after half a bottle, I started getting a headache and a little nauseous- probably a little dehydrated from the hyperosmolar sugar load.

On the bright side, I was the top AG finisher who biked slower than 16 MPH! I take that as a hopeful sign :).

Train on more hills with less recovery- the hills I tend to do are long but have a long recovery after, which is pretty similar to Mini-mussel and FLT. For Skinnyman next year I think (besides just more time in the saddle) I would do some hill repeats with out much recover in between. Hydration wise, I think I'll go back to water, and instead have a gel on the bike at the beginning, and maybe the end.

Took a few seconds to swig some water.

Check shoes before race for objects inside them (see below).

This is really where I redeemed myself. I passed many of the people that passed me on the bike, and ended up with a very respectable time. I just let the cadence from the bike keep my legs moving, and trucked along. Fortunately after a couple of hills at the beginning (where I was passing people) the end was a nice slow downhill, and I really could pick up the pace a little. It was fun :). At the very end, a younger guy started sprinting past me- I started to run after him, and got egged on by the announcer, and caught up to him at the finish. Hehehe.

I did notice something in my left shoe at the beginning. I was a little worried it would cause a blister, but I wiggled my toes around to put it in the little hollow under the toes. Turned out it was a broken rubber band- NO idea how it got there!

Nothing, really. I was pretty happy with the run.

Walked around, got a massage (nice!), rehydrated, and ate pizza.


Nutrition and hydration, and training (as usual)

I went into the race not being that psyched up, after a hard week, so in that sense I'm pretty happy with how it went, and that I started at all. On the other hand, training had been going well, so I was hoping for a better bike. Overall I'm less disappointed than I was yesterday, and I'm looking forward to Fingerlakes in a couple of weeks.


My first time at this race- it was a nice race, well organized, and would have been more fun if I had people I know there!