The one good thing about a reverse tri is that you jump in the pool last. I came of a phenomenal bike leg (see below) and jumped into an outdoor pool. It was refreshing! Still hadn't caught my breath, so I took off slowly.

Another good thing was the swim being in the pool. The rules allowed stopping and propeling oneself through the water by swimming or walking. I was able to stop at the ends of the pool, take a few deep breaths, and then start off again. This really helped my confidence.

Nothing really. I just need to keep getting my yardage up and improving my confidence in the water.

Finishing as far back as I did, I was pretty discouraged. I ran to the line and walked to the bike rack and got ready to go. I really had to push hard to get myself fired up for the bike. It was a head-check moment. I gave myself the proverbial kick in the arse and got ready to ride

Not allow myself to get out of it mentally. Every other mistake is a result of that key attitude.

I was disappointed with my run performance and needed to make it up on the bike. I was slow getting started because I forgot to take the rubber cleat protectors off my shoes. So, when i couldn't clip in, I had to stop, take off the covers, and start again. Problem solved, race on!

I started slow. I wasn't going to make up time in the first 3 minutes. My legs were a little fatigued, so I slid around my saddle to make sure I was engaging the proper muscles and continued to up the cadence.

After about 4 minutes in the saddle, I was up to cadence and feeling good. Slammed it over into the big ring to see how long I could keep it up. There wasn't anything to save my legs for; I swim mostly with my upper body and don't kick much. It was time to leave it on the course.

My average speed was 19+ and it was nice to see 20+ on my bike computer. I passed quite a few people. I tried to count but couldn't. I probably could have gone faster, but I needed to climb a bit of a hill and went back to the small ring, only to throw my chain. So, dismount, reset the chain, climb back on. My legs were screaming at me for stopping, so it took a bit to get back up to cadence. Once I was back up, it was right back to the big ring and zooming.

A quick bit of math tells me I have to average 18 mph to break 40 min. on the bike. My bike computer tells me I'm at 18.8. Not good enough, I slam a bit of Accelerade, go down to the drops, and drive on. By the end of the ride, my computer shows 19.2 avg spd. Job well done

Obviously make sure that I take the rubber protectors off my cleats!

Other than that, not a whole lot. I have to make sure my bike mileage stays up. I was impressed with my ability to keep an 85-90 cadence on the big ring. I'll certainly push my bike pace when I get a flat course like this one was.

My first time riding with my feet on top of the shoes. I did pretty well. I didn't jump off the bike, but I'll practice that a bit more in the future. My great bike time REALLY gave me a shot in the arm. My attitude was 1000% better than when I started and I carried that with me to the pool.

My gloves have given me problems in all three races. I may try to ride without them next time. Everything else went pretty well.

I felt really bad on this run. I started out a little bit too strong because I was running with a bunch of Soldiers. If there's one thing we can do, it's run. So, they all went out strong. I went as strong as I could, but I just didn't have the legs that I needed to keep up. Toward the end of the run, I looked back to make sure I wasn't DFL, which I wasn't. There were no mile markers at all so I had no idea how fast or slow I was going. I kept trudging along and hoping I could hold on.

When I crossed the line, I realized that I had just run a 24:00 5k; a PB for the distance this year. When I got home, I looked at my past races and saw that my pace per mile was faster than ANYTHING I had run all year. It just wasn't as fast as all the "PT studs" that I was in the race with. The big question was: "Did I give up too much on the run?" I remembered last years IM Kona, which was won on the bike, and hoped that I could make up some much needed ground there.

Not worry about my relative place with everyone else. I had a good race that felt bad.

I also need a running challenge month. My bike and swim base have really benefited from those challenge months.

Walked around and talked to folks who were there. Gathered up gear, packed up, and went the post-race celebrations.




30 extra pounds
Poor choices of pre-race meal
Not checking my bike shoes before the race
No mile markers to help me gauge my pace



This post-race was the best, hands-down, of any other that I have ever seen. There wasn't just bagels, fruit, and water. There was a breakfast buffet: breakfast burritos, sweet rolls, muffins, beans, rice, orange juice, sweet tea, and coffee. The medals were HUGE. The overall winners got a huge glass plaque thingy AND vacations. That's right, vacations. One of the sponsors ponied up for 2 nights in Orlando and 3 nights in Daytona Beach for the men's and women's overall winners. This was pretty cool, and kinda funny. The women's overall winner was a teenager! She just beamed from ear-to-ear when she found out they were giving her a vacation. It was really cool!