I had a terrible swim last year so I was a little nervous going into the swim. I started dead center in the middle of the front row, which I didn't like, but I wanted to be in the front row so when I got out there, that was the only place I could go.

The start went well. I didn't get bumped much at the very beginning, but I did get a real hard smack to the face when I got close to the first buoy. I was really surprised my goggles didn't get knocked loose, but obviously glad they didn't. Besides that, the swim was pretty uneventful. I wanted to breath every 4th stroke most of the time, but it didn't work out. I just took breaths when I needed to.

Keep working on my breathing. This wasn't a great swim, but I was happy with it after last year's debauchery.

T1 was good with the exception that apparently my goggles fell out of my wetsuit sometime during the run to transition. Besides that, the wetsuit came off well and was pretty happy with it.

Hold onto my goggles so I don't lose them.

Had a pretty good ride. I wanted my power to be a little higher and really wanted to do at least 23 mph, but I'll take it. I did a good job of taking it easy on the hills and not burning myself out.

The only issue is I had taped a GU to my bike and planned to take it right at the beginning of the ride. However, when I looked down, it wasn't there! So didn't take a gel till the start of the run.

Go faster. My goal was 290-295 watts. I wasn't too far off, but should have been there. Also either keep my bento box on or make sure the tape is going to hold.

Pretty uneventful. The only issue and I decided to strap my race bolt while I was standing at transition for some reason.

Put my race belt on while I'm running. No idea why I didn't do that.

Had a great run for the most part. My goal was a 6:45 pace which I exceeded. The key was focusing on my form throughout the race. I took a gel right at the beginning of the run and it sat well, but I should have grabbed a water too to wash it down. My shoes felt great and didn't have any issues with the rubbing on my ankles which I was a little worried about. My cadence was good and I'm guessing it was probably around 87-88 overall.

I did hit a little bit of a wall right at mile 5. I actually walked for a few steps up a hill. Definitely glad I did because I was able to make an awesome kick at the end and passed a guy in my age group on the finish chute, which took me from 3rd to 2nd in my AG. Didn't have any cramping issues, which was awesome.

Keep working on improving my form and getting faster.

Drank a lot of fluids and then went right over to get a massage. It wasn't the best massage I've ever gotten, but it was still nice. After that, I just hung out and watched people finish up. It was great seeing 3 other NEMS uniforms come over the line.


Not too much. I just to keep training and work on getting faster.


I really like this race. Its well organized and there's a lot of fast people at it. My only complaint is it look forever for the awards ceremony. Apparently they had an issue with the timing that they couldn't get resolved. I really just wanted to get out of there. However, I'm very happy with my results and it was a great day.