Good swim for me. I planned on pacing by making sure I could breathe every 3 strokes the first loop and then pick it up if I wanted to on the second.

I paced well and navigated well the first loop. Going out felt far, but I warmed up and got in a good rhythm. I decided to stop at the second turn around and pee because I thought it'd be easier there than on the bike. I looked at my watch at the turn and was at 1:01. I knew with the current, I was right on pace for 1:20, which was my expected time, so I was pretty confident.

Because of that, I decided not to increase my pace and just swim strong but comfortable and focus on my stroke for the swim into T1. It was going to be a long day and I wanted to conserve energy. A couple minutes were not going to matter that much in the water.

Nothing. The swim went surprisingly well and I felt good the whole time.

This was a pretty good transition. I had to use my towel to dry my arms to get the arm warmers on and wipe my feet to make sure I didn't have pebbles in my socks for the ride. I chose to wear my smartwool socks for the extra warmth since the bike ride can be chilly.

I also put my shoes on for the run out because of the hill climbing out of T1 and the fact that a few seconds at this distance does not matter as much as shorter races.

I packed my bag with my swim gear and jogged out of transition to find Robin and give her the bag. Found her, got a kiss, and was off.

Nothing. Good plan, stuck with it, and got out of this first transition in a reasonable amount of time.

Good bike. I caught Chad at mile 33 and figured either I was going too fast or he was going too slow because he had a 4 minute lead on me out of T1.

I was holding my heart rate steady in the mid 130s so I felt like he was going too slow.

I thought the ride was really good. I drank my pickle juice and ate my snickers after special needs. I also stopped one to pee for 2 minutes. I did launch a gatorade bottle after a bridge, so that cost me a couple seconds as well, but I knew I needed fluids for the final 15 miles.

I really wanted to be done with the bike around mile 85, but I got to Chalk Hill and felt good going up it and then down into transition.

nothing

The run into transition was very long, but I got to my spot without incident. I grabbed my gear and started running to special needs to get my water bottle.

Nothing

The run was good. I started easy and pulled back on the reins a couple times when I felt myself going to fast. I did the first loop in about 1:19. The first loop felt really good. I drank all of my gatorade on the loop.

Stopped at special needs and replaced my bottle and drank some pickle juice. The second loop was good too. I was slowing a bit, and I stopped to pee so that cost another minute. I was running with Chad for the most part, but I was glad to lose him at the stop because I like running alone and pacing myself. I caught him at the turn and we pretty much ran together back to the end of loop 2. The last mile of this loop hurt and I found myself wanting to slow down.

Loop 3 started and was rough. I stopped a little longer at special needs to give myself a little rest. Only a few seconds, but long enough. I also let Chad go off first so I could run my own pace. I let myself walk three of the aid stations here and used that as mental strength to keep running even up the hills where most people walked. I could see Chad up front the entire time and he was doing the same things.

During the lap I knew with 10k to go that I was going to finish in 11:20 or better because I could run 10 minute pacing and make it home well under my 11:30 time goal.

At the last turn, I really got strong again and told my self to run the last 4.3 home because it was almost over and 4.3 was nothing. I picked up the pace and really used the downhills to my advantage. I negative split these miles. From 21 home, my splits were 9:32, 9:14, 9:08, 8:16, 7:50 and 6:36 for the last .2 in the chute.

I might try to speed up a little sooner on the last 8 miles. I feel like I had more in me. However, I wanted to run under 4 and I did that. My A goal for the run was 3:45, but I think that's tough for this course. I suspect very few people did that.

water and sat down. I felt surprisingly good at the finish.


experience


The post race food was bad. The post race activities paled in comparison to what Endorfun sports and high five events do, but not everything can be excellent.