After I finished my first 25 I kicked off the wall and my heartrate monitor slipped down to my stomach. I tried to slide it back up but instead it came off in my hand so I just through it to the side of the pool. On my second 25 I could start to feel my shoulders get tired. This would be the result of little to no swim training for over a month (I was never much of a swimmer anyway). I was much more aggressive this year over last. I actually passed people. This was mainly through kicking off harder from the wall. I got behind and to the side of someone doing the breast stroke so I kept getting kicked by them every stroke. I ended up holding off and kicking off the wall first. My right calf was cramping the whole swim but it never siezed up so I kept on swimming.

Train more now that shoulder is feeling better.

This really was my T1 transition. Through on my helmet and gloves. Took a gel. Took off my shoes and stated running for the mounting line. My problem was on the far side of the mounting line. I had meant to jump on my bike and go. I'd even done the rubberband thing on my shoes. Something I had never practiced and I paid for it. I had done the wrong shoe with the rubberband so it really got me confused and I almost fell over once as I was trying to get on. I was completely stopped and felt like I was there for quite a while. Finally I got in my shoes and took off. Putting the strap on as I was going.

Practice mounting with the rubberband before the race!

Once I actually got on the bike things went pretty smoothly. It is amazing how much faster a road bike is with aerobars than a mountain bike. Needless to say, my bike time this year was significantly better. Not much to note on the bike until one of the last turns of the third loop. I had been fighting back and forth with this guy on a mountain bike. He would pass me on the uphills and I would pass him on the downhills. He started to get quite a ways ahead of me at the beginning of the third loop which is an uphill. I went all out on the downhill and caught up to him at the very end of the downhill. Since I knew I wouldn't need my legs for anything else after this loop I really tried to stay ahead of him. I could see him coming up on me as we came into a turn. I took it a little wide but I still needed to slow down so I gave a little bit of brake but my brake stuck so I gave it a bit more then the brake. All of a sudden the brake got past the part where it was stuck and I got alot of brake. My front tire swerved and I thought I was going down. I kept upright though but it was just enough for the guy on the mountain bike to pass me. I was never able to catch up with him again. Right at the end as I was turning off the course and going towards the transition area I could feel my right calf start to cramp. It wasn't until I hopped off my bike that it completely cramped and I had to limp into the transition area where it started to loosen up just a bit.

Lubricate my brakes prior to the race.

This really was my T2 transition. This was pretty good. No complaints. Just had to throw everything off (except for my shorts of course).

Run with bike all the way.

Last year I tried to run too fast on the run and paid for it later on. This time I just kept a good steady pace. Quick but not fast. I jumped in about middle of the pack when they started us off and I paid for it. I should've been in the first quarter because I had to pass a lot of people that were much slower on a path that didn't alway accomodate passing. I had meant to hydrate better before I started but the water bottle I froze last night hadn't melted enough yet. Lesson learned. So I tried to get some water at the first water station but they just gave the last cup they had ready to the guy in front of me. No biggie I thought since it was much MUCH cooler than last year. I continued running and met up with a guy that was running his first triathlon. He was a mountain biker that had recently started running. I thought his pace was rather aggressive for his experience but some people are just more athletic than me so I wished him well when we got to the next water station because I definitely wanted to get some water. I wanted two cups. One to dump on my head and the other to drink. I took one from the first volunteer and a second from the second volunteer but I think the second volunteer wasn't expecting me to take one from him also so I had to literaly TAKE it from him. In the process of doing so, I squashed the cup and lost all the water. I said "Oh well" and dumped the cup I did have on my head and went on. A little bit after this I passed who I thought was StandsWithFists but I wasn't sure but after I passed her and she said "I'll catch up on the bike!" I knew who it was. The thought of her catching me was on my mind all the way through the bike. I came into transition feeling great.

I would've hydrated more before the race so I wouldn't have needed to mess with the aid stations. I also think I could've pushed it a bit harder but I was determined not to have a repeat of last year where I went out to hard and crashed later on.

Walked back to get my heartrate monitor from the side of lane one and it just so happened that that was where the family was. Little did they know that I was already done. Tried stretching my right calf a lot but it was no use. The damage was done. I thought about getting a massage but there was always a line and I didn't want to wait.


Training for the last three weeks because of a shoulder and hip problem.


It was nice to have two water stations on the run course this year. The food available for after the race didn't have a lot of variety. Water, bananas, oranges and cookies. I was suprised they didn't have any electrolyte drink or anything with protein.