I had to start 35 minutes after the race start because of the age group wave setup. This turned out badly for me. The waves were 5 minutes apart, which should prevent one wave from hitting bad congestion for at least half of the swim, but I went hard from the start and was running into other swimmers within 1:30! The rest of the swim was a constant struggle against other swimmers and it made me work a lot more than I like to on the swim. Also I think the course was a little bit longer than 1.2 miles.

Beg to go in the pro wave! I like mass starts the best because that is the only way good swimmers can actually take advantage of their skill set: if you are one of the best you can get out front and have clear water. Looking at my age group splits across the board it is obvious to me that we were all slowed WAY down by the waves, there is no way that everyone in this group takes over 30 minutes for 1.2 miles.

Taking the ankle length Fastskin off took several seconds, plus I took my time and made sure I did everything right, this is a dress rehearsal for IM Louisville after all.

Nothing.

Pushed kinda hard because it felt good. This was a fairly flat course (they advertise 180 feet of climbing, Garmin said there was 905, I believe the Garmin) and it was REALLY fast. Heading into the wind was hard, but I still held 20-21 mph when it was flat. With the wind at my back I was flying, 27-30 mph average.

Nothing, I nailed it. Obviously I won't do anything close to this in IM Louisville, but only the logistics was being tested here, not the pacing.

I racked the bike and put on my shoes and hat, picked up my running bottle and then paused for a second... Is that it? I guess so, that was quick! Then I was off.

Nothing.

Felt smooth and comfortable for the beginning, completely in control. I was at 7:10 pace after 7 miles which is exactly where I wanted to be. At about 9.5 miles everything fell apart for some reason and I struggled to keep it going, though I still averaged 8:04/mile for that portion even with a couple short walk breaks.

Nothing, just figure out how to keep the pace up better over the last 5 miles.

Laid on the ground in agony.


Not being rested, I had pretty much a perfect race for me under the circumstances. I am training through this race and I may have been able to knock of 5-10 minutes with a good taper. Beyond that I pretty much reached my potential today!


Lots of fun, I'll probably do this race again at some point.