Finally a swim course without current, chop, or behemoth waves crushing you. When I saw the course on Sat, I felt like I could really do some damage here.

My wave started 4 mins after the elite m/f and masters elite m/f. Absolutely no wind at all...lake was nice and smooth. Started up front in my first in water start. Sprinted the first 300y to get everyone off my tail and just fell into a sweet rhythm. Sighted every 12 strokes and the bilateral breathing kept me dead on track. Water was your typical murkey, can't see your hand lakewater.

Split on my watch was 11:57, or a 1:28/100y avg pace. Don't have official place or time yet, but according to wifey, was 3rd out of the water of about 150 in my wave. SWEET!

I did finally get the opportunity to tail someone for about 40 yards. I kept hitting his feet though, but I could feel the easier pace set in with him cutting the water for me. LOL! After hitting his feet for about the 10th time, I left him behind. Caught up to and passed one of the elites. Woo Hoo!

I was bumped and nudged quite a bit at the start. I think I had a really fast first 300 yards to get away from the craziness.

PERSONAL BEST swim for me...and I felt damn strong getting out of the water! Was it the shave down??????

Keep up the muscular endurance and anaerobic endurance workouts.

Uneventful. End of swim course was right near transition. Long run through a stoney parking lot to get to mount line with the bike.

Saw the guy in front of me just jump on his bike and go after crossing mount line. I gotta learn how to do that.

Lots and lots and lots of hills...and some more freaking hills thrown in just to make it interesting. As I'm starting out onto the course, I hear a "GO JEFF" from the crowd...and it wasn't the wife's voice. Who could it be...my first thought was a Bostic groupie...LOL j/k. Turns out fitphd (Shannon) and Theattorney (Christian) were out to cheer their fellow BT'ers on. YOU GUYS ROCK! I can't wait to return the sentiments at UNC! Goal was 20 mph...my watch had me coming in at 21 mph. Holy crap. I don't know how that happened on this course. That's faster than flat Kure Beach. There were times I was in the small chain ring doing 11 mph. Maybe the downhills made up for it, but this was one leg eating bike course. I'll have to wait for the official splits and see.

Unlike my swim, I felt that my bike was definietly a MOP effort.

I did one thing different on this race that I haven't on prior races. I drank like a madman....actually, a couple times, I drank to the point of feeling queasy and almost Wendi'ing. Back on my last 10 mile run, I did a little study to figure out how much I sweat. Turns out I should be drinking about 20 fl oz. every 30 mins to have a net zero weight loss. So...every 5 mins I'd take a huge drink out of my gel/water mixture. I also wanted to see if this had any impact on the running leg cramps.

My pics for this are going to be hilarious. When I was approaching the dismount line, some idiot decides to get in one more pass in our 4 foot wide bike lane. Then, slams on the brakes when he gets in front of me. What a sped. Well, I just happened to be taking my feet out of my shoes at the time. One foot was out, this guy made me get my hands on the brakes and never got the other foot out of the shoe. I end up unclipping and sliding out of the shoe and running back to T2 with one shoe on the pedal and one shoe on in my hand. LOL!


Saddle time. August will be dedicated to getting some serious hours on the bike.

Besides what happened before the dismount line, everything very smooth. Took extra 5 secs to down a huge gulp of gatorade I had at my t-area. Decided to put on some socks too. That easily ate up 20-30 secs.

Lose the socks.

Ran strong. Splits were awesome (though they are unofficial)
Mile 1: 7.00
Mile 2: 7.38
Mile 3 + 0.1: 7.37

Good run. Not too many passes here, lost more spots than I gained...maybe 10-15 I'd say. Walked through 2 water stops long enough to drink a good sized drink of water. I think it was the right decision and I'd do it again.

While I was on the run, I witnessed a brutal bike accident. It was one of those "On your left" and the person moves left. I got to talk to the guy afterwards. He DNF'd and was rashed pretty bad. He didn't hit his head, and went skidding into the grass. Still, I'll remember the sounds of the accident for awhile.

I decided to kick with about 4 tenths of a mile left. It was all downhill, so I figured going terribly anaerobic won't hurt too badly. It felt GREAT!

PERSONAL BEST 5K time!!!!

As I cross the finish line and they're taking off my chip, I look up at the person who finished a few seconds in front of me. It was Phyllis!!! She finished in front of me again. LOL! She looks at me and I look at her and we both burst out laughing right there at the finish. Classic.

I think I have more questions instead of answers here....I had the best performance ever...is it because:
mary training??
hydration strategy???
my insane taper?
shaved legs???

I sincerely don't know what I did to make this performance happen...I guess I'll keep with the mary plan and the hydration strategy. I guess I can keep shaving until the next race. If I swim that fast again, you bet your sweet as I will. As for the taper...who knows?

Rehydrated. Pounded 12 oz of Endurox, then had some food. The family met me and gave me all sorts of sweaty hugs and kisses. Ran into Shannon and Christian and the whole "Who's cheering for me" puzzle cleared up. LOL! Saw Mark finish. Never saw Tom. Sorry bro!!!

Headed over to Mike's house (HookedOnTri) and drank some Yuengling. Mmmmm...right Cathy? :)




Performance on the hills. Speed on the run.


Another good Setup Inc production. Even better production at Mikey's house. Thanks Mike! And oh yeah...I nearly forgot to mention to all the FFF people....Shannon made another cobbler!!!!!!!

This was my best race ever. Personal bests in every sport.