Was over to left a little on start and was not aggressive, this seemed fine but I ended up in no man’s land behind the good swimmers and in front of the not so good. Took a tight line and good on first yellow buoy then aimed right off end of pier and then picked up buoy at far end. Make 90 degree right turn head for next, 90 right watch shore on left and swim for far end and then pick up swim finish area, swim until fingers hit bottom, stand and run up, looked steep but was not bad, around and back in, time 15:40, repeat picked up draft about half way thru but could not figure out if this person was at right speed or not. It is hard to know where you are among everyone as I caught some from first wave early and on the second loop there are many different waves in the water. Out in 31:46.

Get in more than 12 total swims in prep for race. Could be more aggressive and get good feet to follow.

Up ramp, goggles to head, skipped wetsuit strippers, suit down to waist before getting to bike, suit off and place back behind bike, shoes on bike with single rubber band on non-drive train side, rubber band was not tight enough and shoes were going round and around. Wish race director would cover the rocks right before the mount area. They really hurt on bare feet.

Ran pass mount line, easy and careful onto bike, few pedals to speed and feet in shoes, nice tail wind going out, easy 25-26 mph. It was great to be able to have good speed and ease into bike. Had to yell out to officail on motorcycles to move as two motorcycles were riding next to one another and chatting. They were blocking the road. I needed a yellow card to show them. Very solid going out, turned into head wind and dropped to around 20 mph or so. Turn again, crosswind and speed around 23-24 mph. Steady ride but not too hard. Big tail wind on that outer section, up to 28-29 mph. Turn again crosswind, 23-24 mph. Turn head head wind, 20 mph. This repeats over and over. This is a windy area but the race conditions are about as good as it gets from what I understand. Somewhere in there I passed a couple tractors pulling about 7-8 plant carts each, interesting. Approaching second loop watch out for that aid station and merging with first lappers. Second loop just like first except more passing. It was dangerous at end of second loop. I understand why they have the aid station here but it sets up a dangerous situation with too many things happening at one place. I had to break hard to avoid a collision. Guy in front lost bottle and was stopping to get it. Some people are going right for aid and then left to join the second loop. There is not a clear path thru. So I had to pretty much stop. Ok now I was heading back in to T2. Head wind most of the way back in. I was nervous at a few crossing. Police letting people go rather close in front of me. I had to wave at a few crossings to make sure they saw me and I slowed to be safe. Better to slow and be safe as cars really hurt when they hit you! Average was solid over 23 mph so stayed steady and did not fight wind on way back to T2. Had not done as much bike training as normal and did not want to trash the legs. Easy back in, being careful. Feet out of shoes, slowing, leg over bike, off and running with bike. Hurt foot on rock. Turned out I bruised my right forefoot on rock and was very sore for days. It was a little crowded getting back into transition as the international race is going as well.

Was running well, legs felt good, taking it easy, Garmin still not working. Now Garmin wants to know if I am indoors, no, have I moved 500 miles, no, is today 14th November 2010, yes. Garmin acquired before first mile and I reset it at mile 1. Averaging around 7:15-7:20 min per mile. I love this run course. I like how often things change. I was only able to get water at aid stations. I needed gel. Was running steady but well within myself. I was concerned about energy without gel. I started slowing, took some cytomax after campground. I found the cytomax to be less than good. Coming to aid station next to swim exit, there were the hammer gels. I had never tried it before and it was raspberry. You know what they say always try something new on race day! Tasted OK, about 3 min later energy back up and I was grooving, getting some reading down around 7 min per mile. Still felt like I am running conservative. Stayed steady and then picked up with 3 mile to go, 20 min and it will be over, RUN! I heard the finish. I was moving well, should have been running harder all along. As I looked at finish line I was like, OK, why are those people with jogging strollers blocking the finish line? A race official saw me coming and directed me right down the middle. Nice work on his part, way to be alert. Finished.

Train more, start garmin before race, remember gel flask, ride harder, push more on run.