Course was well marked, waited for others in wave to start once the horn sounded. For some reason I kept pulling to the left and was constantly going off course or making corrections. Ended up on back or side stroke a lot. Had difficulty getting breathing down because of issues. Settled down and did better with staying on course the second lap. Allowed me to spend more time in crawl.

Sight more to make sure I was staying on course. Focus on swim prior to entering water (prep). Get breathing brought under control more quickly so I could better my pace more quickly.

The run into transition from the swim was long - had to go up a boat ramp, over the dam and back down the other side of the dam (wet grass) and then through a parking lot and tennis court complex to get to transition. Out of transition was over a set of curbs and a landscaping strip. Had to lift bike over.

Got water to rinse with and drink coming out of lake. Wouldn't get water until on bike and going the next time. Would run more on uphill to cross the dam. Didn't run on the steep downhill section of dam that had wet grass - didn't want to fall. Ran rest of way to and from transition. Need to set up Garmin before swim. Was messing with it at the mount line.

About 75 yards from rack to mount line. Jogged with bike out of transition to the mount line but ended up messing with the Garmin at the mount line trying to get it into multisport mode. Got on bike and had uphill pretty quickly. By hill I mean short steep rise - about 1/4 mile. Got up to speed quickly and held a good cadence and speed. Course was rolling and fast. As wind picked up, pace dropped somewhat.I noticed that on the last hill of the lap I went from 14.something mph to 9.8 mph - that was with the headwind. Overall strong ride and conditions were fine. Turns were good and so was cornering. Might have been able to push it a little harder in corners but very happy with the effort.

Have Garmin set up and ready before getting into the water. Get a tri bike and get off the mountain bike. Had a 19.2 avg on the mountain bike, would be able to shave some minutes on a tri bike!

Came up to dismount line as fast as I would want to. Stopped before getting off the bike and jogged back to rack. Bike racked fine, helmet off easy. Shoes took a little while to get on. Had to put on socks this time. Put on number belt and grabbed hydration pack and took off while putting it on. Transition was pretty good overall.

Unbuckle helmet while running. Get a pair of shoes I dont have to wear socks with. I like my shoes but they aren't finished well inside and I get rubbed raw spots if I go without socks. Learn to get off the bike while it is moving

Didn't see where I crossed timing mat so my Garmin was off on recording distance. Nice cool north wind on run that helped a lot. Legs were good getting off the bike. Started off slow - about 9:20 and legs wanted to go faster but slowly improved pace to keep from loosing steam before the end of race. Started to flag at about 4 miles so took a Vanilla Accel Gel and chased it with water. This helped a lot. Had to pay attention to my pace between 4.75 and 5.75 to keep it where I wanted it. Kicked the last .5 mile to about a 7:25 to finish better.

Take in a little more energy drink on the bike to hold me longer on the run. Tighten up the overall pace so I could shave another 10-15 seconds off the pace.

Grabbed a bottle of water and walked for about 10 minutes. Started to chill down but ran into friend that loaned me a jacket until transition opened again. Grabbed some post race food and went to the chiros booth and they worked out my calves and hamstrings!


Swim definitely. Should have paid attention to lungs before race and also warmed up. Once having issues in water, should have gotten it under control more quickly so I could have better times. Also transitions. Need to work on shaving times there. Need a tri bike but the bike and run performance were best I could do overall.


Overall a good course. A lot of support on water and land. T1 is a haul from the lake but that is one of the challenges. Would do the race again.