I was in the first sprint wave after the 2 lap olympic waves.
I am a pretty strong swimmer so I made my way to the front but a gal stepped in front of me. I have no problem with that but they better be ready to go. The whistle blew and she started walking in the water and I was stuck. It is always crowded but this was the most that I was beat up ever. I dished out some punishment too. It is such a shallow swim that you run into as many people walking as swimming. Anyway according to my watch my time was similar to previous years.

Line up to the outside to swim around the masses.

I almost took off with my speed suit around my waist. I did that in Oshkosh last year and can't believe I almost did it again. I also had trouble slipping into my shoes on the bike. Hopefully just first time of the year stuff.

Practice

The guys that beat me here are strong on the bike so today I really tried to push. The wind was slight but there must have been some because on the way back we were doing 25-26 an a pretty flat stretch. I hope to get the splits someday. On Packerland I saw about 3 riders turn right at the first light off course. I think the officer was stopping a car and they may have thought he was directing them. Fortunatelly I have done it before or I may have followed.

Nothing

Nothing exciting but I noticced the bike next to me was already there and I fugured we were about the same age.

I like this run and do it whenever I am in town including last night for a warmup. One guy left transition 25 yds ahead of me so I had my carrot. Unfortunatelly he was faster but much younger so that was fine. At least I had someone to push me.

Nothing, kept it at the pace I was hoping for.

Just walked around and talked with the guy I was chasing. Turns out he is from Wausau so we compared different races.


Not much. Conditions were just fine, no excuses.


I always put too much pressure on this race because first of the year. I have finished 5th in age group the last two years and really wanted to improve on that. I did take about 3:30 off from last year and jumped to 2nd. Just my luck, I finally place and they stopped giving trophies and instead gave out bags. And no I have not won enough to be tired of the awards. And that bike that beat me to T2 was Mike that has won our age group every year I have done this race. Glad I got to meet him, nice guy but I wouldn't mind if he took a year off.