Weird start, time trial by bib# letting us go in every 5 seconds. There was a short run down a ramp and a rocky start. More on that in the post-race comments. Saw some people wipe out going down the ramp, so I started down very gingerly. Dove in, and my goggles immediately filled with water. Possibly due to not having them wet and sealed right, or possibly due to diving in. Stopped to readjust since I didn’t want to deal with water for the entire swim. Then I just settled in and moseyed around the course. Passed a lot of people but it wasn’t because I was going quickly. I really didn’t want to tax myself too much in prep for that uphill bike. Left the water with pretty low heart rate.

Not sure, I’ve been doing no swimming so I suppose I could be swim training and definitely could go a bit harder. I didn’t think this through since the first 8 miles of the bike is downhill you really can afford a little higher heart rate on the swim. There’s plenty of chance to recover if you overcook the swim.

Ran up the ramp to the wet suit strippers. Love it when there are suit strippers! I took my time getting socks on and everything in order. The run out to the bike start was pretty long, though the T1 time stopped before most of the run out. I also had a really hard time clipping in for some reason.

Another super slow T1. I have to work on these and get this time down. I’m losing 1-2 minutes in transition to other people at my level. Pretty bad.

I actually started my bike computer when I mounted and dismounted and the time on the bike was 1:42 less that the official bike time due to the run out. I really held back on this bike to have something left for the run. Took the downhill fairly easy and just coasted once the speed got over 31. Not sure why I picked that number, but it was what I did. Once the hills started, I just sat and kept the effort low. Even on the constant uphill all the way back, I just geared down and really spun at easy effort. Drank about 20 ounces and 200 calories, so I think that part was right. Hard to judge the bike since I went just about HIM effort.

Driving to the event in the morning we went over the last 8 miles of the uphill part, and I think that made me believe this course was a lot harder than it actually turned out to be. I’m not sure how much time I could have picked up by pushing a little harder, but there’s no doubt I held back too much.

Again, just too much wasted motion here. I need to work on the transitions as there is no reason to be this slow. This would have been a great race to get out of the shoes on the bike since the run was awkward in bike shoes. I got passed quite a bit on the run into transition.

Get out of the bike shoes at the end of the ride and run in bare feet. In general just go through the entire process with a little more urgency.

I knew I went too easy on the bike as soon as the run started. My legs didn’t even feel weird at the start. Still, since I hadn’t been running for a few weeks with the Achilles issues, I tried to really hold back. My effort was about half marathon effort for the first few miles, though I was constantly slowing the pace after checking the GPS and seeing I had crept down to 8:00 or under. At about 3 miles, I still felt great, no Achilles pain at all, not really laboring, so I sped up some. Finished with 7:52 and 7:42 miles and really running at the end. I wasn’t particularly spent went I crossed the finish line, so I knew I left time on the course.

Forget the technology and let my body decide how it wants to run. I think for an event of this length, it’s not as important to hold back. I guess I have to accept that even though I’m still not a speed demon, I’m improving on the run and at a minimum my endurance is adequate for a 5 miler.

Not much really, I wasn’t overly taxed at the end. Stretched the Achilles but it was fine the whole race. Met up with the Gnomies and shared lies about the race. Thanked my faithful Sherpa and his friend who came along.


Lack of swimming, a few weeks off running, but mostly my own head and the fact that I just gave a poor effort really. Paced everything way too conservatively. I’m planning to do this again one next year if possible.


Great race in a great venue with a great organization.

This was my first race with Team Gnomies, and that part was a blast. It’s fun to race with a team and the fact the one of us placed 2nd AG was great. This is a fun distance and I wish there were more like it around here. I’d like to have a chance to push this one a lot harder.

Interesting postlude - after putting my flip flops on, someone commented on blood dripping out from my foot. I checked and sure enough there was a nice gash on the bottom of my foot. I figured I must have cut it somewhere after the race, but that didn't make sense. I figured if I cut if during the race, it would have to be getting into the water on the swim since the start was full of pointy rocks. But if that was the case, it's hard to imagine I wouldn't have noticed and if so my sock would have the evidence. Sure enough, I pulled the sock out of my bag and it was soaked in red! My own bloody sock story (Red Sox fans will get that!). I'm not adding this as an aside for any of my split times - it had absolutely zero impact on the race, but it was just interesting to me. Adrenaline is a great thing.