I caught up to the swimmer in front of me just after 75 yards, and had to hold up behind him for most of a pool length, which kind of sucked. Once he knew I was there, he let me pass as permitted at the end of the length, so he was a good guy about it, but it added a little time to my swim.

Not much. For a snake swim at this race (where you can get DQ'd for passing mid-lane), swim hard to catch someone at the end of a length (when they have to pull over), instead of the beginning of the next one (where you're stuck behind them for the length).

Great transition for me. I decided that I really want to avoid messing with a jersey or shirt at sprints, and didn't want to spend money on a 1-piece tri-suit that I'll only wear 1 or 2 times a year (I've already got good shorts and a jersey that I can wear under a wetsuit for longer races). I tried a few options prior to the race. My tri-jersey wasn't quite tight enough in the water, and the back pockets scooped water. A compression shirt did the trick. Definitely helped in transition. I was able to just throw on my glasses and helmet an go.

I think I had something like the 15th fastest T1 in the whole race, so not much. Maybe RUN HARDER to get to my spot?! I can catch my breath getting my shoes strapped in once I'm on my bike. Realistically, there's only another 15-20 seconds here tops that I can shave.

My plan was to go hard on the bike. Based on bricks in training, I felt that I could ride hard and still put together a decent 5K. I think the only guy that passed me was the overall winner (Reeven Nathan: side note, keep an eye on Reeven; I think there's a decent chance I'l be watching the Olympics in the next 10 years saying, "that guy beat me in the Park Center Tri back in 2010"). For sprints at least, I've gotten to the point where I can put in a decent bike, which had been a big focus over the last year. There's still some room for improvement riding, but the easiest gains are going to come from the run for now.

Not much. This was a pretty solid ride (almost 2 mph faster than last year). Without a big shift in my bike training, I don't think I could have gone much faster.

I still go with socks (and probably always will). I was out of T2 faster than most, but not to the extent of T1.

Not much. This is another one where there's just not that much time left to save. If my run fitness improves, maybe I can get myself going out of T2 a little faster after racking my bike.

I was around an 8-minute pace for the first mile, which is where I thought I needed to be to break an hour for the race. Pretty soon after that, I just couldn't get myself to move fast. I slowed down a lot on my first pass over the hill, and never really got it back. Just tried to keep moving. The limiter on my run really seemed to be cardiovascular; my legs felt OK, I just couldn't get going. I was actually about 3 minutes slower thatn my first race of the season (the Tower Tri).

Get in better running shape. Given where I am on the swim and bike and the fact that, once upon a time, I was a good runner, I've got to get it together for the run over the next year. In every race I've done, this has been where I've left the most on the table.

Walked around. Got a quick massage.


Run conditioning. This was probably my last race of the year. Between now and next spring, I'm going to try to stay at least steady on the swim. For the bike, try to keep getting in one round-trip communte to work while the weather is still good and then do Jorge's training program over the winter. My main focus for improvement now has got to be the run. Build mileage up to 30+ mpw by October or November, and then work through the winter and spring, adding in hills and intervals, without getting hurt.


Fantastic sprint that I'm lucky to have in my backyard.