I never really found my groove on the swim. I was hopeful to complete it in 5-5:30, but it took me about 6 min. I did a good job drafting off a couple people at different times, but they weren't going as fast as I wanted, so I'd end up passing them. It felt like I was over-exerting myself, but my breathing and stroke felt good. My navigation wasn't perfect, but wasn't horrible. Going around the buoy at the turn, a guy tried to cut inside me, but I wasn't having any of that. I maintained my positioning and forced him to slow down or get hit.

I wished I would have found my groove better and tried to push a little harder to improve my time. My navigation could have been better.

Having the tri shirt really helped my T1 time. I ran from the water/beach to TA and quickly dried off and put on my socks, shoes, and helmet. I ran out of T1 and jumped on my bike. I felt this was a fairly smooth transition.

I could practice faster transitions and could improve at getting on the bike and up to speed quicker. Overall, I'm very pleased though.

I wish I would have performed a little better on the bike. The wind was tough on the way out and I waiting to really push myself until the back half. I was expected more help from the wind on the way back, but it seemed to change when I made the turn. I got up to 28 but couldn't sustain it for as long as I wanted. Split times were about 18 out and 16 in. I was 32nd overall at the half way mark.

I might have pushed myself a little harder the whole time. The first half I held out a bit to really push on the back half, but I might try a "go harder for longer" strategy next time.

This was fairly smooth. Not a ton of room for improvement. I could have taken my helmet off while I was running to my rack to shave a few seconds off. I actually waited until T2 to put my race belt on (normally do this in T1) since I had the jersey on in the swim and was still wet in T1. I actually was about to run out of T2 but stopped to get another drink from my bike. This added a few extra seconds.

Take my helmet off while running to my rack and get one last drink while I'm still on the bike before dismount so I don't have to in T2.

I started out struggling a little on this run, but I found my groove after about 200 hundred yards. I knew I could go faster, but didn't want to burn out, so I didn't speed up enough to get into my normal pace. At the turn around, I picked up my pace a litle and then about 1.5 miles into the run, I picked up pace again to keep up with a pacer that was helping a lady on the run. I sprinted the last 50ish yards and left this lady long behind.

I might have pushed harder earlier on and tried to keep this pace the entire run. Looking back, since it was only 2 miles, I should have just gone all out the entire time and not try to hold any back for the last mile.

After the race, I drank a ton of liquids and ate some watermelon and a couple cookies. I was really sad they didn't have burritos this year as post-race food. Maybe I'll get over it some day... Drove home and rested and ate the rest of the day.


I only trained for 2 weeks this year, so I could have trained more and harder. Looking back, since this race is so short I should have just pushed all out for the entire event as opposed to held out for the back half of each discipline. I don't know how this would have affected my performance, but it might be worth trying for this race next year.


This is a good, inexpensive race that is fairly close to my house. I'd definately recommend this event to a beginner. It did run a little late, but overall it was organized and had plenty of volunteers for the straight forward course layout.

*Split times are approximate, based on my watch time. Overall time is official race time.