Tried to hang onto the two fastest swimmers in the wave, but that didn't last long, so I let the 3rd guy pass me, and stuck to him through most of the swim. Started passing people from earlier waves at the 1st bouy, and by the turnaround there were people really getting in my way. After drafting through 3/4 of the swim, I took off on my own and passed my leader. I think I finished 3rd in the swim in my wave.

golly, nothing. That was a terrific swim.

Long run from swim exit to T1, so plenty of time to get the top of the wetsuit off. The bottoms took quite a bit longer. I didn't pull them down far enough before I attempted to get them off my heels and it was quite a little struggle. My wife took a whole series of photos of my on my back trying to get that wetsuit off. I'll need to look at the time stamp of the images to see how long it really took Arrgh. After that- things went OK.

HR was high, about 150-155 for the 1st 3mi- still recovering from the swim. Kept it mostly in the mid-140's after that, which seemed about right. 95% LTHR. Drank all my water- two full bottles. Ate quite a few shot blocks that I had taped to my bike.

Not sure. There were probably moments when I could have gone a little harder- but the fact that I didn't cramp up during the beginning of the run might indicate that I backed off enough.

the finish came up on me a little before I was expecting, so I barely got my gloves off and garmin transferred to my wrist prior to T2. Took one foot out of the shoe, but the other got stuck, so I ended up running to my spot with one shoe on, one shoe off. didn't seem to slow me down much tho'. Socks didn't go on all that smoothly, but got the Mizuno's on quick, grabbed my hat and race belt and was off.

Now that I'm in a position to podium... perhaps I should work on speeding up my transitions.

I didn't have cramps in my calves or achilles problems today - so that was a nice feature of the transition to running, but the legs did feel heavy. I just watched my HR and kept it in the low 150's at the beginning, and let it climb to the upper 150's towards the end, where I then took it to ~170 for the finish. It was a hot run. I dumped as much water on myself as I could, and drank as much as I could, but was still dehydrated. The heat certainly slowed me down a bit- but I truly enjoyed the race. Saved just enough for a good kick at the end.

Hugged wife, daughter and MJ (friend) who all came out to watch. Downed two bottles of some vile sports drink, and ate the granola bar that my daughter brought me. Then patted myself with an iced towel. Ahhh.


Faster? That WAS fast for me.


The lake was pristine. The roads were beautiful. With about 300 participants, great weather (although a bit hot) and beautiful scenery, this is a terrific race. We stayed right at the Lake Morey Resort- so it couldn't have been more convenient. A terrific and fun weekend. It was interesting to see the resort get transformed from the drunk, overweight golfers into a fitness throng. Pretty easy to tell who was with which sport. Eric Averill ran a nice friendly race. Nothing fancy, but everything was taken care of. On the plus side- it was well organized. Numbered and named spots in transition- with sufficient room. Corrales well marked for entering and exiting. Plenty of volunteers- oh, and iced towels at the finish line to help cool down. On the low side- No goodie bag. There was an after race barbeque and awards ceremony that I didn't attend.