I creeped up to the beginning of the line to get in which pretty much put me in the front on the buoy side. This meant I was going to be in the battle zone for the start. I was positioned between Karen (KSH) and Eric (tri-team) and we got a couple of Karen's previous race swim stories. The horn went off and I went out hard to see if I could get away from anybody (but mainly to be sure I wasn't going to be part of Karen's next swim story ;) ). I kept the hard effort for 100 strokes and then went into a long gliding stroke. I was pretty much swimming right along Eric for almost the first length. This wasn't such a good thing as we were drifting towards the shore and had to make a significant re-route. Just before the turn around buoy, I inhaled a ton of water and had to pop up for a bit to clear it out my lungs. It was a bit windy and the water was quite choppy; much rougher than at the PlayTri the race a week ago. I got right back into in and don't think I lost much time or position. The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful. I had more space and I took and held a really good line to the last turn buoy.



Take a better line initially and look for some feet to draft off.

Blah. Not too good, not too bad. Just blah.
It seemed like a decent transition and I was in top 10 for AG, but #1 was over 50" faster.

Run harder

For this race, I decided to leave my Garmin at home. It is also my bike computer, so all I had for this ride was a stopwatch. My plan was to just ride hard.

Right out of transition, I started riding hard. I immediately passed a few people, one of which almost took me out with a 6' swerve trying to get his foot in his shoe. Near the turn to the dam, I got passed and was able to keep him in my sight for a good few miles. I just kept my head down and tried to push.

It was a bit windy and on the dam, there is no protection. Luckily, it was mostly a crosswind. While this did make for a few interesting moments, it didn't have as much an effect on the speed.



I must admit that with my big run struggle last week, I let my non-confident side talk me into taking it a little easy coming back in the park for the finish. I don't really think it made much of a difference, but I need to be better at defeating these voices.

Not good. Like last week, I kept my normal laces on my shoes. Unlike last week, I had problems getting my feet into them. Still not sure why as it's worked well for me in the past.

Get the elastic laces on the shoes.

Going into this, mentally, I was sorta beat. I felt pretty good in the first quarter mile, then it was mental games to keep pushing. I decided I was going to use anyone in my AG who passed me as motivation.

Almost immediately, someone passed me that looked to be in my AG, but had the compression socks covering the age. He was moving much too fast anyway, so I let him go without any attempt. About a minute later, here comes #2 and I somehow manage to hang on reasonably to him. Still, only about 1/2 mile in and I'm not feeling too good about this run. I walk the aid station and get going again still keeping #2 visible. Get to the turnaround (8:04) and am immediately passed by #3. I don't let him get away at all and stay about 5' behind, with an increased pace. I'm starting to feel pretty good now, but not good enough to go by #3, so I just keep to his pace still seeing #2 about 50' ahead. With about 1/4 mi to go, just before the last turn, I pick up the pace considerably to get that position back. Just as I do this, I see several from the tri-team cheering me on. My goal was to pass him with enough "freshness" that #3 doesn't really try to stay with me. I don't dare look back, but dig to put some distance between us. As I go around the turn, I see in my peripheral vision that I've succeeded and I back off a bit as I couldn't keep it up. I still see #2, but I just can't quite get there. I manage a bit more as I near the finish to have another race through the chute. This was the first time I ever looked or cared about who was in my AG and it sure was fun.

I didn't stop my watch until much later, but I'm pretty sure I went under 7:30 for the second mile giving me a good (too much?) negative split.

Nothing, this was a good, solid run for me. I do need to be more confident and may have hung with #2 and possibly picking up one more spot?

This was my first time at this race and it was the usual Ironhead run race. It was definitely a fun, short, fast race.