Didn't start for 80 minutes after the race started. Had to have half a bagel to tide me over - which put a weight in my gut. Started off well-paced and then picked it up after I warmed-up. Last 4 laps I finally pulled away. So, I was first out in my wave of 11. I was doing about a 7:25 450 yds during training, so I was pretty happy with this effort, but felt I could have given just a bit more.

Try to warm up before hand.

Did two transitions - one inside to dry off and get on two shirts, and then another about 75 yds away to get on my helmet and shoes. It went smooth and as well as it could have considering the colder weather.

Park my bike closer to the exit of the pool since you can start riding immediately.

Had two gels and a bottle of gatorade endurance and a bottle of water. Probably could have pushed myself a bit more, but I'm always afraid of bonking on the run. Was "sluggish" the first 20 minutes. It felt like I had a rock in my gut the whole ride, but felt my energy level was down in that first 20 minutes.

Push myself a bit more.

Nice - since there's no mount/dismount line I could ride my bike all the way to my transition spot (up against the track fence). I used the zip-pulls on my new shoes and it helped.

Nothing.

I started off great - to my best tri-run ever. Was surprised at my energy and how "easy" the run was going. Halfway through I got a horrible side cramp or stitch. I finally had to walk because I couldn't breathe in without hurting horribly. I walked about 1 1/2 minutes, had some water that I brought with me and felt good enough to run again. It was a blessing in disguise as the rest of the run went awesome. I did not have a gel on the run even though I brought one since I thought I may have "overeaten" on the bike which cause my side stitch. But, I think I'm going to chalk it up to not breathing into my gut and possibly the 2nd gel on the bike which was caffeinated.

If I could have kept running I may have had a sub-8/mile run. Darn - wasn't my best tri-run ever.

Maybe not have a caffeinated gel on the bike.

Walked around and chatted with John (rc8vatr).


Was a bit bored on the bike, but could have pushed on the bike a bit more. I will also have to rethink moving my caffeinated gel back to the run instead of the bike.


A fun small-town race with no official transition area and few participants. Sprint course + 110 participants starting over 1 hour 20 minutes = a very sparse field when on the bike and run. It was almost like a regular workout with volunteer support, which isn't bad because you can still test yourself and you get to mingle with all sorts of people afterwords. I would do this again as a great season-ender.