Got an open, inside position at the front of the pack to start. We were swimming against a fairly strong current to the first buoy and a few swimmers passed me. I got pushed inside the first buoy by the current and had to come back out and swim around not to miss it. From B1 to B2 we were swimming sideways to the mild swell, so I felt a little seasick but pushed through it. I tried to keep a fairly straight line to B2 and B3, and sighted more. There were a lot of swimmers crossing back and forth. After B3 and into shore I accelerated a bit for a stronger finish. PR'd the swim by 6 mins.

Sight more to the first buoy, especially with the stronger current. Push a little harder. Consider tinted goggles for next year - coming around B3 was directly into the sun to shore.

It's a fairly long, uphill run from the beach to T1, but I jogged the whole way.

Have not mastered the "leaving the shoes on the bike method" yet, but was relatively happy with T1 time. Wasted a little time in conversation with a rack-mate - she and I were making sure we both had everything. Had extra squirt bottle to rinse salt off face and sand off feet. Slipped on cycling shoes (no socks!) popped a shot blok and took off.

The transition area was twice as large as last year, so everyone's time was longer.

Cut open the %!*&$ package of shot bloks! Remember its a race and time chatting in T1 can cost you a place or two!

PR'd on the bike by 18 minutes from last year. I felt good, the weather was cool, so I went for it. I passed a lot of people on the bike this year which felt great because everyone was passing ME last year. The bike fit me very well and I was comfortable in and out of aero.

More road bike riding and more hill training in preparation for the race. I made a couple of gearing mistakes that may have cost me some time. Build skills to stay aero longer and build confidence to take downhills faster. Considering I was riding a borrowed road bike I had only been riding for 3 weeks I'm very happy with my bike performance.

Again, because the transition area was larger, T2 times were longer for everyone as well. Easy to slip off cycling shoes and slip on Zoot racers without dealing with socks.

I might have saved a little time if I could have slipped the shoes off on the bike.

Felt a little slow at the start, but once I hit the first two hills I felt a lot better so I picked up the pace. Took sponges at all aid stations to stay cool, but did not need to drink at every one. Only drank when I was thirsty.PR'd the run by about 16 minutes!

Run volume was very low and slow this winter after recovering from injury last fall. More run training should bring run to sub-1 hour.

Walking, water, and orange and a banana. Big healthy breakfast post-race!


Low training volume over the winter and missing two critical peak weeks of training prior to the race because I thought I wasn't going to be racing this year.

I estimated a 3:20 finish, so was happy to come in at 3:24 with the minimal training I had coming into it.


Lots of cheering volunteers, everyone had a great attitude and was helpful and friendly.

I love this race and plan to come in under 3 hours next year!