First 500 out was a bit choppy and crowded, but most of the wind was blocked by the pier. Turnn north with wind from the south west made sighting fun...couldn't really sight unless on top of a wave anyway. Constantly getting sucked in and spit out of the waves. Turn to the beach and you entered what I can only describe as swimming through a mosh pit in a washing machine. At this point I just wanted out of the water! The closer I got to the wall to exit the worse it got from waves reflecting off the wall. On the recovery portion of stroke, left arm soemtimes never left the water. This swim sucked!

get away from the buoys, too crowded near the bouys. on the turn north I really should have shot more past the buoy and ride the waves in from the southwest rather than trying to fight through them. Swim the course beforehand next time for an ocean swim.

This transition was more about regaining my composure and collecting my thoughts. that swim broke me mentally and through my whole race plan off.

Collect my thoughts on the bike rather than standin transition doing nothing.

20 mph headwinds or crosswinds for the first 20 miles through this meandering course. They did cover the railroad tracks (well most of it anyway). But there were some big speed humps through soem of the neighborhoods that weren't painted or marked very well. You hit one of those at full speed and your day is done ( at least for the few people I saw on the side of the road0. The tailwinds were nice for the last 4ish miles until you hit the cobblestone road into transition. No flying dismount on cobblestone.

Shift gears ever few minutes and pedal up to see if I can't eek out a few more mph's.

Ok truly rookie mistake: racked my bike on the left side of the rack and my transition area was on the right side of the rack...too many bikes racked to go under so I had to go back around the rack to the other side.

Not be dumb

Jogged with walk breaks for the first half of the run. I was severely disappointed that my goal time was shot and decided just to cruise the rest of the course and save it for the 70.3 in 3 weeks.

Suck it up.

Collapsed on the ground and curled up in a fetal position


Mental toughness


Overall, this is a well organized race with plenty of stiff competition. The swim is notoriously tough (last year canceled for AG and this year the last 8 waves were shortened by 500 meters).