The weather and the distance was exactly the same as the Great Buckeye Challenge, which is when and where I had my "freak out" during the swim. I was so determined not to let that happen again, even though my mind was wanting to take me there. I did just as planned. I placed myself towards the back of my AG and didn't go flying into the water. I told myself that I wanted to complete the swim without raising my heart rate very much at all. That's exactly what I did. I swam slow and steady and I soon found myself passing swimmers from waves that went off before me. During the swim I saw several people that had apparently got tired and were hanging on to the surfboards to catch their breath. I know my stroke was a bit sloppy, ut it was steady and moving me forward, so I was happy!

Coming out of the water, I had some trouble getting the top of my wetsuit off, but I kept moving forward as I fumbled with it. No big deal though. I tried to keep my heart rate down as I headed up the hill into T1.

I need swim lessons to become a more efficient swimmer.

This was the first time I was able to step right out of my wetsuit without having to lay on the ground. I was happy with that. My goal was to be in and out of T1 and T2 in under a minute. I was 12 seconds over that goal for T1, but not too bad I guess.

My shoes were already clipped on my bike, which I have been practicing with. I was able to get my helmet and glasses on, grab my bike and go. I ran out of T1 and did a running jump on my bike.......off I went.

Not too much really.

I was warned about the 2 hills at the end of the course lap. I was also aware of the wind. I went out on the course and planned to keep a comfortable pace. Being as this was my first Oly, I wanted to save my legs for the run. I started off going into the wind, but it wasn't that bad, so I picked it up a bit. Going into the wind I was able to hold approximately 17-18 mph. At one point, I had a good tailwind. I was holding 22 mph without much effort at all. Towards the end of the 1st lap came a big downhill. I took full advantage of that and was able to get up to 35 mph. Then came to 2 hills. I switched to my small ring and just spun up them. It was slow, but I wasn't killing my legs.

I saw k_watzek on the bike course. I almost wiped out some dude while trying to say hi to her. Sorry dude :(

The 2nd lap went the very same as the 1st lap. I was probably a little slower, but felt good and was looking forward to the run. I averaged 18.2 for the bike, which I thought was decent for me considering the wind.

Nothing

Again, I had hoped to be in and out of transition in less than a minute. I was 19 seconds over that, but what else was I gonna do? I racked my bike, rolled my socks on, slid my shoes on and rolled out.

This was the first race that I wore my GPS. I wanted to have it to know what pace I was keeping. I had a little trouble getting the watch on as I was running.

Nodda

My goal was to run at a 8:30's pace. I figured my GPS watch would assist me with this, as long as I could hold the pace. I started out running way too fast. Even though it felt good, I had to slow myself down to avoid burning out too fast. I passed the 5k turn around point rather quickly. It seemed like it took forever to get to my turn around point. Once there, I was served up some rusty water. It was funny because I looked at it before I drank it and didn't really think too much of it. It was kind of funny because once I drank it, I thought, "hat the hell was that, and why did I just drink brown water?" It didn't make me feel funny or anything so I kept moving along without giving it another thought.

I finished the run strong. As I came to the final volunteers, I felt like I had a lot of energy left so I sprinted my to the finishline.

Nothing. I had a plan and it worked out exactly as planned.

Some stretching. Talked to my buddy (who also raced the Oly) for a few minutes then I had to rush home for my daughters game. Later that day, me and my buddy met up for wings and a couple of beers to celebrate our first Oly race and a good season of races.