The water was initially cool, but I was wearing a neoprene hood (testing it out for IMAZ) and was comfortable. I settled immediately into a nice, smooth stroke. Jenna followed me along the shore, which added to my comfort level. I made the turn at 22 minutes, which would have been a great pace. I got a little off course on the back side and was in more crowded water, so I got jostled more. Thankfully, this was an annoyance and no longer a trauma (as it would have been in previous years) so I just kept going. I was slower on the back side and came out of the water in 49 minutes. Still a great swim for me.

I might have tried to find less crowded water on the back side, but I'm not sure if it would have saved me any time.

The wetsuit strippers saved some good time here. My suit was off and the transition was smooth. I kind of had to use the restroom, but the port o potties were outside of transition and I didn't want to waste the time.

Nothing - good transition

Since the bike course is mostly flat, it is easy to get sucked into pushing the pace. While I was keeping up with my nutrition (Infinit and water, with a Powerbar at the end of the second loop), I was going a little too fast. I felt comfortable, but I underestimated how it would affect my run. Still, I came off the bike in about 2:45, which was a good time savings over last year.

Pace, pace, pace. I need to reign it in at IMAZ or there will be a STEEP price to pay when I get into the run. Jenna told me that she might have to make signs for IMAZ that say: SLOW DOWN and REMEMBER YOU HAVE TO RUN LATER.

Another good transition. I stopped on the way out to use the restroom, but after holding it for the entire bike ride, I really needed to stop.

Nothing - it was smooth and I wasn't stalling

My first mile split was unexpectedly quick, at 9:38. I tried to back off a little after that. I was trying to implement my 9:1 run walk ratio that I plan to use at IMAZ, but the nine minute run segments felt too long. Overcooking the bike was catching up to me and it was time to pay. I finished the first loop at around 1:15, which was disappointing, but ahead of last year's pace. As I was starting into the second loop, Lisa caught up to me so we ran and walked together for about 3-4 miles. It was good to have the company, especially since it got me through the hardest part of the run course for me - the Northwest side of the lake on the second loop. I started to feel a little better at around mile 10 or 11 and was able to run more. My last mile and a half was the best I had run since mile 1, but the damage had been done. Overall, I was going to finish much better than last year, but the run split was going to be about the same. All told, I think I might have saved 10-15 minutes on the bike by pushing the pace, but it ultimately cost me about 20-25 on the run, as well as some additional suffering. It was a bad trade.

I'm not sure if there was anything additional I could have done on the run. The damage had already been done.

A quick drink of water, a banana, and it was tme to pack up. It had been a long day.


Pushing the bike too hard.


Overall, it was a great day. I knocked nearly a half hour off of last year's time, and met my goal of coming in under 6:30. I also learned a valuable lesson for next month. I really need to take the bike easy so my legs aren't dead by the time the run starts. I got everything out of this race that I wanted to: a half iron PR, a great training day, a practice run in Tempe, a lesson that should help me at IMAZ, and an opportunity to see friends. Can't ask for anything more than that.