Had some goggle problems. Was second in my lane, drafted well, but the guy in front had goggle problems too. Passed him, and did my own swim. Was pleasantly surprised with my swim time - I figured I'd be over 11 minutes.

I have GOT to get better goggles - I have a seal mask, that leaks at my right eye; speedo goggles, that leak at my right eye, and a pair of Tyr goggles, that don't leak as much, but I have to tighten them down so darn hard that I typically can't see...

I racked in the front row, so it was easy to get to my stuff. Remembered my fuel-plan this time!

Nothing.

My hill rides are paying off, but I need to do even more. I beat my estimated time here as well. Re-fueled on the bike (breakfast at 5:15, and not starting until 8:15 kinda threw me off a little). NOBODY passed me on the bike today, and I passed quite a few people.

Ignore the cones? Seriously, the police did a fair job of directing traffic, but I don't think that putting the police cars/cycles in the MIDDLE of the intersection is a good idea! When training, I take corners hard and fast - I had to slow down for EVERY turn today.

Swapped shoes, dropped the helmet, grabbed the race belt and a quick drink, and I was off. I had racked close to the run exit, which was the opposite side of the bike entrance - I think about 20 seconds of my T2 time was just trying to run in my bike shoes...

N/A

At the bushes, you had to duck through to the left. The turn was marked, but right after I came back out, a woman that should have turned just followed me - she corrected after about 100 yards, but I wonder how many people shorted that course?

I missed my estimated run time by about 45 seconds, but I started to expect that when the temp went over 80F...

Wear rocket-shoes like Wiley E. Coyote...

Walked around and stretched. Had a banana, some water, some fruit punch, had another Energice Gel (how the hell it got a leak is beyond me - I carried two, and left one on my TA towel - THAT was the one that leaked.) Rooted for the rest of the finishers, as I waited for the preliminary results.


I swim, and run, too slow ...


I'm not fond of 'open-course' bike routes. I feel there should be drink stations at every mile, and mile markers would be nice. I do NOT like that EVERY tri I've done this year has either a hill climb into TA from bike to run, or a hill at the end of the run.

I also have an issue with not keeping the elites separate from the rest of us. One of the guys in my AG (Don't worry Michael Redman, *I* won't mention your name) who runs one of the local tri groups was not marked as an elite. So, just how many times do you get to win in your AG, without ever being called Elite? I want to compete against other amateurs, not the elite guys (yet). Still, Mr. Redman, you need to work on your bike times...

Overall, it wasn't a bad triathlon, but it could've been a little better. I was hoping to break into the top-10, but I didn't, since elite level guys can still race AG here. I also missed my overall goal by 23 seconds, but I can live with that.