Swimming is easily my strongest leg of the race. Since this was my first race, I didn't know how to go out. After the start, I headed to the left of the pack to get into some open water. I pushed it pretty hard out to the buoy then made the turn. About this time I realized I had pushed it to hard and still had the bike and run!! Tried to slow my stroke down a little.

I wouldn't take it out so quick. I would pace myself a little slower and control my breathing.

As I finished the swim and came out of the water I was pretty disoriented. I think it was a mixture of the murky water, waves, and shortness of breath. I had to jog really slow to get my bearings back. Once I got into the transition area, It seemed to go pretty good.

The start of the ride was horrible. I couldn't get my bike over 11 mph. My legs felt like crap, my breathing was off, and I didn't have any energy. About mile 4, I started to get the legs loosened up and then his the start of the downhill. I kept my bike at or above 20mph throughout the next 9 miles. Pretty good for riding my mountain bike. Then the last 4 miles were uphill again and I was back down to 13mph. I feel the bike was my strongest leg of the race. I really had a fun time. Great scenery, and a super fast course.

Make sure I get my bike tuned up before the race...chain kept slipping. Take the first mile at a really easy spin cadence.

I was really surprised how easy this one was. During T1, there was so much to do. All I had to do here was change shoes, take my helmet off and put my visor on. Was a great transition.

I would run the bike into the rack. I just walked it through the T area.

I had another tough transition. I ran for the first couple hundred yards then walked for about 100 yards to give myself some rest. After that I told myself I would only stop in the Water aid stations. This worked out great. I think my first mile took the longest time, after that one, everything was great.

Work on more transitions during training.

Walked around a little bit. Had a beer and talked to a couple friends. I ran into Infosteward and Vertical_listing. It was great to meet some BTers. I was really happy with my performance. The weather was wonderful.