This was a tough one. I started on the left side of the pack, but in front, intent on truly sprinting this swim. My problem as with all my recent races is that I get too amped and it affects my relaxation and breathing in the first half of the swim until I relax and get a rhythm. Anyway, started out blazing toward the first buoy. After about 100 yards, I felt my breath getting away from me. Keep in mind this race is at a mtn. lake at 5,000 feet of elevation or so, so it's a little tougher to catch your breath. I quickly backed off a little and gained my rhythm and found some feet to draft off of. I didn't do much drafting, but enough to help in some parts of the swim.
After rounding the first buoy, the second straightaway is right into the morning sun, so you cannot see ANYTHING except the thrashing of fellow swimmers ahead of you, so I couldn't do anything but aim for them and hope THEY were going in the right direction. Fortunately, they were, and though I veered a little off course at one stage halfway through, I finally spotted the buoy and made my 90-degree turn toward the boat ramp and then picked up the pace. Now, the sun was at my back, so sighting was no problem. I passed a couple of people. Our wave was "40-and-over", so there were several age groups all wearing the same cap color, so I had no idea how I was doing.

Try to relax a bit more at the beginning of these races. Another thing, I chose NOT to go with a wetsuit, and it was noticeably a bit harder without the added buoyancy. Given the length of the swim, under 10 minutes, I just didn't feel it was worth taking the time to peel it off. I am happy with that decision. I also seem to lose focus on keeping the form that I work on in my training swims because I'm too concerned with sighting. I have to make my form "automatic" so I don't have to think about it.

It was a pretty good hoof from the water to T1, and up and down a big hill across pavement. Probably 200 yards. I kept a solid pace and did my thing. One thing that sucked: I purposely set up next to the end of a rack to have a clear shot at my stuff, and some girl who came VERY late leaned her bike against the end of the rack blocking my stuff. I worked around it, but that just annoyed me a bit.

Nothing.

I spent about 5% of the entire ride in the aerobars, and most of it on the hoods and top bars, and much of it out of the saddle climbing. It boasted 900 feet of climb, and in the high elevation, the lungs got a workout. I would say the tri bike people might have been at a slight disadvantage. Road bikes and even mtn bikes were doing better with the hills. I managed to power past alot of folks on the uphills, and with me not knowing the course and what was up ahead, I was very conservative in the downhills riding the brakes if I couldn't see what was coming. Got passed a few times going downhill. Some of the downhills were gnarly because right at the bottom, there would be a 90-degree sharp turn, so brakes were crucial! They had people there warning you to slow for turns. One scare for me....at about mile 3, I hit a seam in the pavement while holding the hoods, and my handlebars pivoted down about an inch. They were still pretty tight, but I was paranoid I'd hit another bump and they'd swing all the way down and I wouldn't be able to reach my brakes. I grabbed the aerobars and pulled them back up and just nursed it the rest of the ride. It didn't affect my ride too much fortunately as it was tight enough to hold unless I hit a major bump.
This bike was a good ride for me as far as passing folks on uphills. Only bummer is that due to the constant turning, climbing, etc., there were few opportunities to drink. I didn't want to take my hands off the handlebars. I was thirsty at the end, but figured I'd drink at the run aid stations.

Well, knowing the course would have helped alot, but I don't even think that just one drive or ride around it would have been enough. There were so many hills and turns I couldn't have remembered every one. Also, not that I could have known, but tightening the bars would have been nice.

Initially, went to the wrong rack. There were a pair of the same type of shoes I have with my same water bottle two racks away from mine, also on the end. That delayed me probably 5 seconds, and then I stupidly tried racking my bike by rolling it under the rack, but the aerobars were too high and I had to back it out, and put it on the other side, racking by the seat. Another 5-8 seconds lost.

Remember my rack, something I'm ALWAYS careful to do, but didn't in this one for some reason. Maybe the 3:45am wakeup made me loopy!

The run started with about a 100 yard uphill. Took it slow to get my legs, and as with all my runs, even in training, found my stride about a mile into the race. Gulped some water at two aid stations and poured some on my head, as always, choking and burping a bit. Hate drinking from cups while running, but didn't want to stop to drink. One dude came running out of the woods where he was taking a leak. Unusual for such a short race.
At the halfway mark, I decided to increase my foot speed, and really picked it up. I'd estimate I was doing under 8 minutes on the last mile, which is good for me. Passed a few people, and in the end, had a guy in front of me for about 1/2 mile, and took him on the last uphill, and then sprinted the last 300 yards or so to the finish.

I might have been able to kick up my pace sooner. Also, I'm thinking wearing my Fuel Belt or at least tucking one flask into my shorts for a sprint might make it easier to drink while running. Not sure, but all-in-all, one of my better sprints for the run portion of the race.

Just walked around a bit and ate some of the stuff they offered us: bananas, bagels, cookies, Gatorade. Got changed, put my stuff in the car, and then headed over to check the scene. Videoed a bit more to show wife/daughter when I got home, and checked results. Saw that I apparently got 8th in my AG, which is neither here nor there not knowing how many were in my AG. We'll see when official results are posted. Apparently I was somewhere in the top 100. I'll know later this week I guess. There seemed to be plenty of newbies in this event though, so it's less-impressive than it sounds. Ha, ha.


On the bike, lack of tremendous ability on such a tecnical course. I think I rode it well for my current ability level, but I'm pretty timid when it comes to really laying it on edge on my bike. I think I ran well and swam reasonably well though.


A beautiful venue, a nice getaway (even if it were for just a few hours), and a very challenging race!