Not sure why the race organizers time the events the way they do. We staged in waves but in doing that we had the pass through the timing pads and waited about a minute before we started. Overall I thought my swim was "ok". One nice thing about this race is that it's like two triathlons in one. They race all the "veterans" in their own waves by sex and age group. Then they send all the "first timers" out. I was in the last wave of male first timers. The 35 and over division. At the same time my start strategy was based upon swimming in a mixed group of vets and rookies, so I hung back and to the outside on the start. All that did is put me behind a bunch of swimmers I couldn't get around. The nice thing is that I could just sit and draft and didn't really have to worry about sighting. I did have to stop a couple of times because I came up on the guys in front of me too quickly. I actually didn't have time to think about the normal open water anxieties because I was more concerned about the feet in front of me. I actually forgot to to breathe! Okay, maybe not entirely but it wasn't till I rounded the traffic jam at the buoy and found open water that I really found my rythym. Though the time says I swam the 200m in 4:06 I really think I did it in 3:06 because of the weird start.

Next time I'd start at the front and stay at the front. The only problem is that I'd be swimming in the veteran division next time. Probably with stronger swimmers. So maybe in the front and to the outside again.

Still kind of perplexed that they don't give our transition splits. I think they just combined T1 into my overall bike time. I was easily maintaining 22-23mph on the bike and hitting 30+mph on the rolling descents. T1 could have gone better though. Found my bike pretty easily, put on my helmet... Oh wait! I wanted to put on my shirt! struggled with the shirt two times before I threw it on the ground. Shirtless it is! Helmet on again! Wipe feet, socks on, shoes on, sunglasses, grab bike and go! Still partial to SPD shoes. Was actually able to run through the TA with them on and did a flying mount! I'd never actually practiced a flying mount but I was "in the zone." I just found myself on the bike and off I went! I think the SPDs are a good trade-off since 1) I could run in TA with them and 2) I was able to do a flying mount and start peddling immediately without trying to get my feet in the shoes and strapped in while on the bike.

Get used to swimming in tri-shirt or bib. No more struggling with shirts!

I'm pretty sure that time above is off and probably factors in my T1. I didn't get passed but I was constantly passing people. Bike is still my strongest leg. Caught up to people 2-3 waves ahead of me. Cornering felt great! Was able to maintain speed in the corners. Stayed in aero position except for one hill where I got on the horns and out of the saddle. As I typed earlier, everytime I looked to monitor my speed my computer was registering ~23mph consistently. My bike split was 2nd overall! Amongst the rookies that is...

Can't think of anything really. Was really pleased overall.

I have yankz on my trainers but not on my race shoes, which I got about 3 weeks ago. Hadn't gotten around to trying Yankz on these new-fangled "tongueless" shoes. So had to do the good ol' double knot. Decent dismount from the bike. Seemed pretty seamless to me. Ran to TA again. Helmut off fine. Bike shoes on fine. Took a little time to put on shoes and knee brace. My visor gave me the most trouble though but ran out of transition putting it on.

Try the "yankz" on the race shoes.

I probably took off too easy. It take me too long to get my run legs under me after the bike. I did a number of bricks and it always seems the same, right around the 3/4 mile mark my legs start to loosen up. Still, it didn't fix the fact that I'm still slow on the run. I think I did better than the indicate 10+min/mile though. Again, transition was counted as part of my run time so I'm claiming a 9something mile for the run! I guess I didn't realize it at the time but the guy that came in first in my AG/div was only 23seconds ahead of me! Next time! Grr...

Run more. Run lots.

No real warm down. Walked around, drank a lot of water and sports drink. Found my wife and daughter.


1) My weight. If they had a clyde division I'd still be a part of that at 213lbs this am.

2) Not enough run fitness.

3) Swim traffic.

4) Being a rookie.


Great race for a first timer! Just the right distance that is not intimidating. Great support and good afterparty. It's nice that it's family oriented and that family is welcome to partake in the post race festivities. I would definitely do this race again!