Everyone was bunched up on the far left by the fence which took you right over the swim area buoys, so I went out right (inside of the loop as well and started out there and stayed out of most the traffic early on. First OWS since the accident so I wasn't really wanting to take any rib shots and was still unsure how my hands and left wrist would hold up. I cruised through the first third and stayed clear of an contact at all and found myself right on the bouys on the way out. Going across the lake I actually tried to follow some feet and it work well until the feet started weaving off course. Again hit the turn buoy dead on and then turned for home. Stayed smooth and relaxed the whole way and had a bit of a problem findng the swim out arch but navigating off the hats on the insdie worked well and finally the sound dialed me in. Good swim.

Not a bad swim considering I only swam for 20 min since my wreck a month ago. Had to swim with my ring on (Not such i could get it off and on in transition with my knuckles still swollen up) which caused me to not fully open my left hand to make sure it didn't try and come off.

Long run up to transition, but was carpetted. Took my time and got out of my wetsuit fairly smoothly. Did forget to strp up my right bike shoe and had to risk getting run over to stop and take care of that on the way out.

Take care of my bike shoes before heading out.

Knowing I had a HIM tommorrow, I just cruised along but never really pushed the pace. Shifted early on the hills and spun up as much as possible. There was a weird part right at the beginning when we were on the wrong side of the road. Are you supposed to stay right when riding in the wrong direction? I almost automatically went to the side of the road, but it made me think. Seeing people pasisng on the left and right in this section was bizzare. Fortunately we were off that section of road in about a mile. Kelly's husband (Kelly) passed me about 4-5 miles in and about 10 miles late he passes me again (appartently he dropped a chain on on of the climbs). The short steep climb up to Rt 63 was mean (fortunately i knew it was coming) and the only other hill I messed up on was the up and down and up in the middle where I started standing too soon and didn't downshift enough and really hard to grind out the end of the hill in way to high a gear standing (should have dropped to the small ring but since Black bear I don't shift to the small ring while standing anymore). There was a great stretch on the way back with a gradual incline coming past some farm houses which i was flying past people just hammer which felt awesome. Good ride went from 121 OA to 72 and 24 in my AG to 12th in a ride i wasn't working too hard. Drank a bottle of EFS, a few swings every 20 min or so.

Make sure I'm in the small ring at the bottom of a hill with a steep section, so i don't have to grind too much, spinning a good cadence in an easy gear is much faster than staining on a a big gear and not having enough turnover to shift down.

Decent transition, still not good getting the tire into the ground racks and had a bobble finding my row (stopped one row too early for a few seconds. Got some EFS, sprayed on some sunscreen and was off.

All my transition stuff was wet from the rain, should have covered my shoes better. Wet shoes are a good thing.

Got going, felt my legs were slowly coming to me. Had the 4th place woman in front of my and just tried to keep her in sight. The Trakkers Team Aid Station just after mile 1 was only of the hightlights of the weekend. You could hear them 1/4 mile away and then really pumped me up. I was going well until the hills started after the turnaround. The hills were just a grind especially after the hilly bike ride and I slowed my pace down. I had a few people pass me but i caught the (former 4th place) woman and crusied along well. The last mile was about 3/4 mile of a hill up, up and under the main road, then around the corner and a quarter mile to the finish. Did have a coach run with her athlete down the stretch (which is a penatly as dicussed yesterday in the athlete meeting). Good run but did sell out since I was still saving for the half.

Push the hills more consistantly.

Got some water and Muscle Milk and then went over to the ART tents and got my right hip would on a bit. That helped, should have worked on my hammies as well. Then got my food and brought my bike to my car before coming back to hang with my Trakker's teammate before the First Endurance giveaway.


Doing a HIM the next day and not getting a good month's worth of training due to the Knoxville wreck.


Great race. Great volunteers, challenging course, great lake for swimming and great family activities plus the chance to hang out with and meet so many pros including Craig Alexander, Miranda Carefree, Julie Dibens, and of course Mike, Richie, and Carole.
Great race