I knew I couldn't keep up with the fast swimmers in the Open Division so I just started on a good pace and then grabbed on to some good feed after the first turn. I didn't really get into a good rhythm until the turn when my strokes were strong and steady. Not a bad swim and it was pretty uneventful.

I was completely surprised by the wetsuit strippers because they don't usually have them for the race. I took full advantage. I had a little problem getting my helmet strap done up but not a bad transition when I look at other times.

What an absolutely horrible bike. It was windy and I'm sure that slowed everybody down. I went 1:00:58 last year with a 24.4mph average and that was on dead legs 3 weeks after IMSG.

This was just a pothetic ride and I just could not get going. On the first lap I was about 45 seconds behind Maggie and I was hoping to pick up the pace after the first lap. I just couldn't get anything going and my legs just wouldn't turn over. By lap 2 the gap had gone to over a minute and I knew I wouldn't catch her on the bike or on the run with the way my legs were feeling.

The crosswinds downtown were fun and some thought they were really tough but those were NOTHING compared to the crosswinds at Kona. I swore I'd never complain about wind again and while there was a 20mph wind it was still nowhere near Kona wind.

I knew after the bike I wouldn't have much for the run. Really disappointed in this peformance and need to work on speed. Time to get more intense intervals into the program.

Uneventful transition as I put on my shoes and hat and grabbed my belt and I was gone.

Well, if my bike was pathetic the run was pathetically horendous. I felt cramps coming on in my quads almost immediately and I just couldn't push the pace at all. I had to stop 4 times on the run just to grind on my quads to work out the twinges. I never completely cramped up but I knew they were right there the whole time. If I didn't stop to work on my quads I'm sure I would've completely locked up.

I poured water on my head at every station trying to cool my core down. It was hot but not crazy hot. Again the wind was nasty as there were a couple times coming back across the bridge I'd get blown a couple yards to the right as gusts of winds blew.

I guess a 6:51 pace isn't too bad considering I stopped 4 times to work out cramps but I just couldn't push the way I am capable of pushing. I had maybe 1 mile at around mile 4 where I felt like I really pushed the pace as I came down Congress the last time but I had to stop at the bottom of the bridge againtow work on the legs.

As I came into the final stretch my wife was there and I told her I was done. She thought I meant DNF as she didn't realize I was on my 2nd lap. I guess she thought that because I'm usually pushing hard to the finish with a much higher heart rate but because I couldn't push it I was just cruising into the finishers shoot.

What a crappy run!

Just hung out and grabbed pizza and muscle milk. Hung out for a while and then just headed home disgusted with this performance.


This race has gone downhill every year. Registration was a mess. Body marking was a mess in the morning. They never closed transition and people were in transition when the pro's started. Timing was completely screwed up. The Open Wave was supposed to start at 7:14 and we all got in the water and they told us we wouldn't start until 7:28 so we all went for another short warmup and then sat on the dock as we tried to figure out why they were waiting so long. At least I got a warmup swim in.