Got in the water and just swam. Drafted a little, but couldn't find that one set of feet to just follow. That and the people I did follow weren't swimming very straight...so I had to constantly switch my drafting targets. Also, since the water isn't very clear, I could barely even see the feet in front of me...I actually had to constantly sight to make sure the person I was drafting really was 2 feet in front of me.

Made the turn around in a little over 14 minutes...not great, but not that bad either. I knew though that I would need a perfect race from here on out to break 2:20.

Didn't draft as well on the way back, but 15ish minutes is not so bad considering the way back is slightly into what little current there is.

Shaved 2:59 of my time last year. Was hoping for a little better, but I know I didn't put in enough work to deserve it.

Latch onto feet better. Swim more volume.

HR was pretty high coming out of the water and had to sort of jog into transition. Didn't help that the asphalt we had to run on is just horrible. Honestly...this race is so well run...but I may consider not doing this race simply because I don't want to run on that shit through transition. My bottom of my feet are the only thing hurting right now, and it's because of running on crappy asphalt. I'm literally hobbling around like I just ran a marathon because the bottom of my feet are bruised.

Other than that, cut a 49 seconds off last years T1, by doing away with socks,leaving shoes clipped into the bike, and just being more efficient. 9th fastest T1 in my division and T-37th overall.

Swim with shoes on

Took me a while to get into my shoes once I jumped on the bike, but overall not bad considering it was the first time I did it in a race.

Once I got settle in though my body immediately would not respond to the wattage I wanted to put out. I was shooting for 240, but 210 felt like my heart was going to explode and I was over 180 bpm. My legs felt great, but overall my body couldn't handle it. I suppose my immune system fighting for 4.5 days is just as draining as 4.5 days of hard training.

The good thing is that my speed wasn't too bad. Holding about 23.5 mph going out with a slight tailwind at 195 watts wasn't too bad. At this point I totally ignored my wattage...it wasn't going to help me and I just focused on HR since it seemed to be my limiting factor. Just tried to keep it around 170.

Normally I blow by people during the first 10 miles of the bike, but since I couldn't, I effectively drafted people (legally) as I slowly picked them off. About 8 miles in, I found 2 guys that were riding my pace and we did a little 3 man rotation...again legally...well sort of. We were probably about 2 bike lengths apart at times...but we were each trying to stay legal as much as possible. We pretty much stayed together the last 15 miles. There was no communication, I don't think any of us were actively trying to "work together"...it's just what ended up happening.

Overall, not bad considering my wattage was over 50 watts below what I was shooting for. Course was only 23.7 miles according to my Garmin. So average pace of 22.6 mph. I'm pretty sure my PT was outputting correctly (189 avg, 197 normalized)...but God knows what I would have done if I pushed 240 watts.

3:56 improvement from last year. Actually wasn't hoping for that much better considering my power was off by about 50 watts of my goal. 1:02 was my goal, but I think the legal draft helped a lot...where last year I was just full steam ahead cutting my own wind the whole time.

Not get sick.

Good transition. Efficient. Did I mention how running barefoot in on rough asphalt F#&%@# sucks? Garmin showed I was running a 8:19 pace over that crap. And while my dismount was beautiful...it hurt like shit.

4 seconds slower than last year...but I had a really good transition last year with a better rack spot. I call it a wash. T-7th fastest T2 in my division and T-43 overall.

Bring 200 feet of carpet to lay from bike finish to my rack spot.

Same issue on the run as with the bike. Legs wanted to go...but the cardio and HR wasn't there. I knew I would need a sub 45 minute run to break 2:20, and after my first mile split of 7:50, I knew I had no shot. Kind of took the wind out of my sail for a few miles as I sort of just trotted along. This is an area I'm going to have to work on. Being new to the sport, my first few races have been very successful (making my A goal in every race prior) because I only can go up. Improvements are harder to come by now, and I can't mentally pack it in just because I won't hit my A goal.

Now I will say that I was at my target HR...170's...but I think I could have pushed miles 3-5 harder just to see if I really would die.

Juices finally kicked in the last half mile or so and sprinted to the finish very strong. Another sign that my legs were not the issue. Once I was able to convince myself I could go anerobic the last 90 seconds, my legs took off.

2:52 improvement from last year. I was hoping to run sub 46, but not bad considering.

Not get sick. Be mentally stronger to push a little more even though I know my A goal is out of reach.

Didn't feel nearly as tired after this race compared to last year. Part of it is improved fitness...part of it was my muscles never really got any lactic acid.


Getting sick...not pushing harder.


Despite being a sour puss about how this race went, I'm very pleased all things considered. I made my #1 goal, which was not to shit my pants...and honestly, I'm just glad I was well enough to even toe the line. I PR'd by over 10 minutes, and only missed my goal time by a little over 3 minutes. On a good day...pushing even 225 watts, and having a little more motivation on the run, I think sub 2:20 would have been a walk in the park.

Either way, the real goal is Honu. What I did learn is that I can sustain a pretty good speed at 180-190 watts...and that wattage goals may not be that important to having your best race for a given day. If I went strictly by wattage today...I would have blown up the bike by mile 10.