Ugh. I was kicked right out of the blocks. My left goggle filled with water and my contact came out. My vision was, um, blurred, and I was forced to breathe right, which I don't really like to do. I got way off course twice. On top of that, I sucked. The time includes a long run into T1, but even accounting for that, this swim sucked. Disappointing.

I slipped on the timing mat coming in and went down, ended up covered in dirt and ground clutter. Sort of how my day was today. Still, considering that I had to take my goggles off carefully, fish out my contact, and put it back in, this was a quick T1. (Is lake water an approved contact lens cleaning solution?)

My crappy day continued. I felt kind of blah on the bike, and on top of it my rear wouldn't shift past the 14 -- no 13, no 12, no 11. I was spinning out constantly. I tried to make up for it by going extra hard up the hills, but really in a sprint one should be going 'extra hard' the whole time. Difference between avg power and NP is going to be depressing -- I haven't looked yet.

Do a better job checking over the bike before the race!

A little trouble getting the shoes on. Then I went the wrong direction from my rack, which was just stupid. Otherwise just fine.

Um, learn where the run exit is?

My lack of motivation and preparation really shone through here. I didn't even break 20 minutes. Ugh. Twice, yes twice, I took a wrong turn, and the nice volunteers shouted at me to turn me around. It was nice to see that they moved the turnaround this year so that the course was at least legit.

Learn the course, stupid!. Run hard! Problem was, I wasn't catching the guys in front of me, and the guys behind were not catching me. I was isolated for the entire run and at times it just felt like there was little to race for. I return to lack of motivation -- I should be able to go hard even when there aren't people around to push me.

Chatted with Jason for a bit, looked for Brian but didn't find him, and ducked outta there. I didn't really want this race to be the defining event of my day...


Motivation. Preparation. Tired legs. I'm OK with the last one, but the other two are a bit frustrating. I'm not racing again for a while and I think that's a good thing. I need to focus on training, recharge my racing batteries, and reconsider how to approach the mental aspect of racing.


Good race, and glad to see a legit run course this year. The new swim start is a little cramped.