I honestly had a bit higher expectation of my swim considering I've had more open water practice lately but just couldn't get in a good rhythm with a bit too much contact (not heavy but enough to bother me). Got hit in the face once but didn't do much damage. I also seem to have an issue about pushing myself harder on the swim. I did improve slightly since my pace was about the same as my wetsuit-assisted pace on my last couple of open water swims but I was gunning for something around 12 minutes...and missed that mark by 1:48!

Continue to be more consistent with my swim practices. I need to be in the pool 3x/week and try to get closer to 1600m-2000m each practice. Maybe this winter I can convince myself that I like to swim :)

On a positive note, my overall results were much better than my 3 previous OWS races. I normally am around the bottom 10% of the swims, but I was better than about 30% of the participants this time around - so I guess I'm now in the front part of the Back of the Pack vs being in the back part of the Back of the Pack. Next OWS is probably the US Open so we'll see how I do then.

My transitions weren't very sharp for this race and I'm glad I didn't end up losing out on a podium spot because of it. The surface on T1 was a bit hard so I couldn't run fast and then I wasted time when I didn't lock my race belt on correctly and it felt off (this race requires that the race number be worn on the bike). I also continue with my trend of getting a rack that is farthest away from bike out.

Run a little bit quicker through T1 and make sure to clip on the racebelt correctly. For races that don't require the racebelt on the bike, I'm going to leave that with my shoes and put it on while running to save time.

My best bike average ever so I was fairly happy with how I did. Also a lot of fun since I had 2 people I was leap frogging with (incidentally, all on Cervelo TT bikes) and kept it very interesting. One of them turned out to be a battle for the last AG podium spot so I'm glad I responded when he passed me (twice) since we were almost dead even on the run (1 second difference!). It was cool going through the bike course racing each other while passing a bunch of people. I was passed only by 2 people by the end, and I was able to catch 1 of them on the run. My biggest challenge was my nutrition. I usually only consume my HEED on the bike for sprints but I froze my bottles overnight like I normally do for bike rides but it didn't melt in time so I was only able to put water in my Speedfil. Fortunately, I carry a spare Hammer gel on my bike and I ended up using that as my mid-race nutrition. I also took 2 Endurolytes midway during the bike.

Ended up 15th overall on the bike and 1st in my AG!

Not freeze my HEED overnight. I may have also had a little more room to push just a little bit more.

A tad slow on T2 since I did my cyclocross dismount but touched down before I was slow enough and ended up slightly dragging my big toe on the rough asphalt. I wasn't pushing my run back to my rack as I was trying to figure out if I was bleeding. Fortunately, I wasn't and it turned out to be just a slight scratch. I also took my feet out of my shoes a little bit too early.

Pay attention to some landmark to take feet out of shoes so I don't have 2 miles left when they are already out. Also, I need to make sure I'm close to a dead stop before I put my foot down on the dismount when on rough asphalt.

I ran this pretty well. I did end up slowing down a little too much for the 2nd mile (pace went from just under 7:00 pace to 7:15 pace) as I was trying to keep the effort even but I think that pacing was closer to 10K pacing. It was pretty hot and I wanted to make sure I had a decent kick as I planned to up the pace with right around a mile to go. Was able to go back to around 6:50 pace for the last mile and still had enough for a hard kick on last 100m.

Ended up 17th overall on the run and 2nd in my AG by 1 second (should've gone a little bit faster....would've been nice to get 1st in AG for run and bike!)

Learn to endure a little more pain and not slow down on Mile 2 (at least not 15 sec). However, I was pretty happy with this run since it was 90F and I ran about the same time was my last tri 5K a little over a month ago - and that was in about 60F!

jogged/walked past finish for a bit then got a massage


Raced about 3 lbs heavier than my last tri due to the Toronto/Buffalo mini vacation over 4th of july weekend. Also had a bit more alcohol during the stint, and coupled with a lot of long hours for work after I got back, I really wish I was able to get more sleep on the 2-3 nights prior to the race. However, I'm realistic with what training I can do right now and I'm glad to be in podium contention in a competitive age group.


Jack always seem to run very organized races. The run course had potential to be confusing but there was enough spray paint and people guiding us that I didn't get lost.

My new Triple Threat Tough jersey seems to be good luck as I made the podium on my 2nd race in a row (so it is 2 for 2 on podums right now). Another race in 2 weeks so we'll see if I can be competitive again.