Windy conditions caused decent waves, I didn't get a chance to do any OWS since it was so early in season and I don't own a wetsuit. I started in the very front and started with a plan to go hard first 100 yards. The waves took my by surprise and it took a while to get used to the crowd, bumping into swimmers constantly. I also didn't do much sighting practice in the pool and it was a lot harder to see the yellow turn bouys than I expected. I figured out that when I wasn't running into someone, I was off course, would look up and get back into the stream of swimmers. Any time I would get into a rhythem, I would run into somesome in front/side/behind. I just kept going, then going around the last turn, I tried to pick up the pace some, appears everyone else around me did to. I was racing a women in the final leg and when she got out, they said that she was the first, not sure of what group. I used more energy this segment for the time that I put up compared to my TT, but this was my first OWS.

Practice sighting and some OWS practice. Consider no wetsuit or make sure I get a medium size, the tri store had me down for a small medium and it was too small when I went to pick it up. Then they had to fit me into a medium tall, which I guess was probably ok, but a medium would have been perfect I think.

I felt like I was smoother this T1 than I was at Smithfield Sprint last month. Pulled down wetsuit and took off cap running to my bike pretty well. Got the wetsuit off ok since it was my first time. I could hardly stand up on one leg to take off wetsuit, about fell over a couple times. I ditched the bike gloves this race, they were just a hassle to put on last race. Sunglasses, put on garmin, helmet, grabbed a gel and put in my side pocket. Put on socks, then cleats, grabbed bike and took off. Had to run bike through grass a little ways to get to the bike start. I jumped on bike ok, then there was an immediate hill that I couldn't get up since I had my bike in a BIG gear...DOPE, so I had to jump off the bike, run the bike up the hill and jump back on. Then I thought I could pedal with both shoes on pedals, not clipped in, but I just kept slipping and then fumbled around clipping them in, lots of newby mistakes on bike start. Terrible form, a newby moment for sure. Definitely need to spend some time on my T1 transition.

Practice my transitions and bike starts. Not have bike in big gear.

Felt pretty wiped out from the swim. Started the bike with a headache I think from the swim. I started with trying to get my breath back, but then just took it easy to moderate on the first lap. I had a small shoulder cramp at the start of the bike, but it eventually went away. I started taking in some endurance gatorade at about 15 minutes per plan, and tried to keep it on a 15-20 drinking, but I felt like I had a salt crust mouth and was really thirsty, so I drank water the rest of the bike, probably should have mixed it up more, but I just wanted water. I took a GU gel about 40 minutes into the bike. I apparently have a knack for going off the road during a race, I went off again on a bad side of the road but recovered. I never do this in practice so I am not sure what my deal is. (Note to self, get a mountain bike so I can get my off road experience.) Second lap I tried to push, but towards the end of the 2 lap I kept running out of steam and slowing down, then speeding up, not very consistent speed. I got passed alot it felt. I was playing cat and mouse with one racer alot of the bike, then she blew by me at the end and I didn't see her last 2-3 miles. She was in a race group, but it pissed me off I got blown off at the end.

Take in more calories earlier, I felt that I ran out of gas late on the bike and into the run. Practice full pedal stroke and more time on the bike. This remains my weakest sport.

Just racked bike, slipped on shoes, grabbed race belt and took off.

Practice jumping off bike and riding with feet on top of shoes.

Had cramps the entire run in stomach, some in shoulders. I never could get my heart rate down or my pace to my best pace, although I may have worried about my HR too much. I also was breathing heavy the entire time, not as comfortable as I am used too, but maybe this means I was pushing my limits more and I never had to stop so that was good. It also probably means I didn't get enough calories in on the bike. I was pretty much staying at the very high end of my target pace, except the last mile. I did pass quite a few folks who were walking, including the person on the bike that I was playing cat and mouse chase with, that felt good to pass her in the run while she was walking. I kept looking for my AG and didn't see too many, one or two passed me early and they were running pretty fast out of the gate. I saw ahead me a leg with my AG as I got up to about 10 ft of him he started running again and at a pretty good clip, I thought shoot, he was just getting a second wind, well, he started walking again shortly and I passed him, yes! Then last half mile I saw another in my AG and I just tailed him until about a quarter mile or so left and I just put it down and passed him, I never looked back or knew if he was on his first or second lap, but he gave me the extra boost either way. It was a pain in the butt though becuase the last quarter mile was through a woods that appeared they just cleared a path with a rake and it had roots all over, uneven, glad I didn't sprain anything and it made it that much harder to push that final leg, seemed pretty poor course layout for the end of a run/race. I guess they needed the pavement for the bike route though.

I guess I could always try to push harder, but think if I got my nutrition right on the bike, I would not have had the cramps, would really like to figure this out before my HIM next month in FLA heat/humidity.

Put my legs in the lake, felt good. My back slowly got some serious pain. I think my twisting in the water to breath, I had to look straight up to catch a breath without getting splashed by waves really through my body position off. Later in the day, my back slowly felt much better which surprised me that it hurt and then went away so quickly. The next day I could feel it in my neck, shoulders and back, but nothing too bad yet.


OWS and nutrition probably were my biggest limiters overall. Windy day on swim and bike.


Happy with my result overall as I came in better than my goal, which was to be under 3 hours. My race pace predictions were fairly accurate. Great race venue and Setup Events does a good job overall, of course this is just my second race, both were by Setup. Volunteers were great, thanked them when I wasn't gasping for air. Overall, I learned a lot and gave me a much better perspective for my HIM next month.

Overall Men Results:
http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=17...

Men AG Results
http://www.setupevents.com/files/RumpusInternational_AGMen_2010.htm...